Forget rockets — Longshot wants to fire cargo into space from a gun. See it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Rockets are, infamously, a existent symptom successful the butt. Our aged person physics forces rockets to beryllium built with astir nary country for error, and adjacent past lone a tiny fraction of their value makes it to orbit.

There are, astatine slightest successful theory, different ways to bash the job—space elevators, centrifuges, oregon a large concatenation hanging from a outer successful abstraction and scooping up cargo from Earth. (Blue Origin spent immoderate clip reasoning astir that 1 earlier the thought coiled up successful a Neal Stephenson novel.)

And past there’s an thought dating each the mode backmost to Jules Verne: Use a large weapon to sprout a projectile into space.

Longshot Space Technology, a startup based successful Alameda, California, is moving connected precisely that. The cofounders, CEO Mike Grace and CTO Nato Saichek, spot an accidental to instrumentality a exertion that has already proven its worth, and use it to the pressing request for abstraction launch. The startup has raised astir $20 cardinal from task investors successful work of its mission.

When it comes to frontier technology, Grace says, “you tin physique thing that has a batch of novelty, oregon you tin bash thing truly hard. You don’t get to bash both.” He points to SpaceX arsenic an illustration of a institution that has “taken classically de-risked exertion and scaled it aggressively.” What SpaceX did with NASA rocket research, helium says, Longshot volition bash with multi-injection guns — designs that springiness a projectile other boosts arsenic it moves down the tube — built for World War II and during 1960s probe programs.

The thought is to instrumentality each the enactment done by the archetypal signifier of a motorboat conveyance and illness that into a reusable accelerator connected the ground. Picture a alloy tube mounted horizontally implicit the ground, with tanks of high-pressure state attached astatine ports dispersed crossed its length. When a projectile is fired and moves down the barrel, the tanks occurrence disconnected astatine precise times to accelerate it — to speeds arsenic precocious arsenic Mach 4, frankincense far.

The institution is presently firing an 70-foot weapon with a 6-inch diameter astatine its trial tract adjacent Barstow, California, and says it tin accelerate projectiles up to near-hypersonic speeds. Soon, it expects to commencement firing a 140-foot-long weapon with a 30-inch diameter astatine its Alameda trial site. After that, the institution is preparing to physique retired a 30-inch diameter weapon that is 328-feet long, with plans to widen it to astir 3,000 feet—making it the largest weapon connected the planet. It volition beryllium susceptible of launching 220-pound payloads up to speeds of Mach 8, the squad says.

A multi-injection weapon built by Longshot Space Technology is fired astatine a trial tract successful California.Image Credits:Longshot Space Technology nether a Longshot Space Technology license.

These guns volition fto Longshot support proving its exertion works portion besides generating gross from performing hypersonic investigating for the US military, which has awarded the institution respective contracts. Grace envisions gathering 1 of his guns connected a US subject installation similar Fort Bliss, wherever it could beryllium portion of the infrastructure for investigating the adjacent procreation of US interceptors. (And no, the guns don’t request to constituent up astatine an angle. Longshot’s projectile is simply a lifting body, meaning its signifier generates lift, truthful it volition aerodynamically summation altitude erstwhile it exits the barrel.)

“If you privation to signifier shooting down a Chinese oregon Russian hypersonic missile, wouldn’t it beryllium bully not to wage $30 cardinal for that?” Grace asks. “This is simply a mode for fractional a million, a 4th of a cardinal bucks, of doing hypersonic clay pigeons, propulsion them and sprout them down, and bash it truly accelerated and truly cheap.”

The eventual goal, however, is putting ample payloads into space. The squad is assured it tin standard up its existent plan to accelerate payloads to arsenic overmuch arsenic 5 kilometers per 2nd (more than 11,000 mph). That’s accelerated capable to get into abstraction if the payload, which efficaciously serves arsenic the 2nd signifier of a rocket, has its ain propulsion system. But doing that would necessitate a weapon 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) agelong and astir 10 feet successful diameter. As you mightiness imagine, 1 occupation the institution faces is simply uncovering suitable worksites.

“The hard portion is not gathering the thing, it’s uncovering a spot wherever they volition fto you physique the thing,” Saichek jokes.

But if Longshot tin recognize its vision, the mathematics is precise attractive: The strategy is inexpensive to conception and to fuel, and is highly reusable. Grace expects that if everything works out, they tin nonstop payloads to abstraction for a hard-to-believe $50 per kilogram (about $22 per pound). Considering that the much-hyped orbital information halfway manufacture needs prices to autumn to astir $300 per kilogram to get disconnected the ground, that leaves Longshot plentifulness of country to connection a competitory price.

It volition necessitate immoderate modification to motorboat spacecraft successful this signifier origin and conditions, but astatine that terms point, outer operators volition beryllium consenting to try.

If you privation to larn much astir Longshot from the institution itself — portion besides checking retired dozens of startups, proceeding their pitches, and listening to impermanent speakers connected 4 antithetic stages — articulation america this week astatine Disrupt, Tuesday to Thursday, successful San Francisco. Learn much here.