Longshot aims to launch cargo to space with a reusable gun system

The startup is already testing small systems and has a defense-testing business while it works toward a much larger launcher.

Longshot Space Technology says it is building a reusable ground-based gun system that could one day launch cargo to space, a very different approach to orbital launch that also gives it a near-term defense-testing business. The Alameda startup has raised about $20 million and is already firing a 70-foot, 6-inch test gun near Barstow, with a 140-foot, 30-inch system next for Alameda and a later 328-foot version that could be stretched to about 3,000 feet. Longshot says that larger design could send 220-pound payloads to Mach 8 and that its ultimate space-launch configuration would need a roughly 10-kilometer barrel to reach about 5 kilometers per second. The company also says it has won several US military contracts for hypersonic testing and believes it could eventually offer launches at around $50 per kilogram, far below the roughly $300 per kilogram often cited for orbital data centers.