CNET

What if We Shot Satellites Into Space With a Giant Gun?

The world’s largest gun belongs to Longshot Space, which plans to go even bigger in the hopes of harnessing its technology to shoot satellites into space instead of using rockets. Read more about Longshot Space on CNET.com: World’s Largest Gun Aims to Shoot Satellites Into Space Timecode Chapters: 0:00 The Problem With Rocket Launches 0:38…

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The world’s largest gun belongs to Longshot Space, which plans to go even bigger in the hopes of harnessing its technology to shoot satellites into space instead of using rockets.

Read more about Longshot Space on CNET.com:
World’s Largest Gun Aims to Shoot Satellites Into Space

Timecode Chapters:
0:00 The Problem With Rocket Launches
0:38 Longshot Space’s Kinetic Launch Concept
1:30 How the Giant Space Gun Works
1:59 Testing the 6-Inch Prototype Gun
3:14 Scaling Up to the Full-Diameter Version
3:42 The Physics Behind Horizontal Launches
4:33 Can Satellites Survive the High G-Forces?
5:07 Future Testing and Next Steps

Video Credits:
Host: Andy Altman
Scripted by:Andy Altman
Producer: Andy Altman
Camera: Celso Bulgatti
Video Editor: Jon Gomez
Thumbnail Designer: Cole Kan

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#space #launch #longshot #spacelaunchsystem

70 Comments

  1. @MikeNovelli

    September 6, 2026 at 8:11 am

    Do you have a permit for that?
    Someone call the ATF!!!

    That’s not a practical way to get satellites into space… Might as well pretend Quantum computers are going to work well while we’re at it…. And scalable data centers in space…. So much vaporware being peddled to capture investor capital from people who don’t know any better 🤦🏼

    • @Pako-ft7qf

      September 6, 2026 at 8:25 am

      For sure a civilian airplane is going down

    • @ropro9817

      September 6, 2026 at 9:16 am

      Nah, they could power it using nuclear fusion 😂

    • @ropro9817

      September 6, 2026 at 9:17 am

      @Pako-ft7qf and probably a few hundred birds on every launch 😂

  2. @threesixty4486

    September 6, 2026 at 8:54 am

    So what would be the benefit of using gas instead of “just” building a very long railgun? You’d have much more control over the acceleration and exit speeds.

    • @ross-carlson

      September 6, 2026 at 11:46 am

      The problem is acceleration – the morons building the spin launch thing have the same issue – to “throw” it hard enough you have to have EXTREME g-forces at launch, destroying basically any payload we’d want to send. So unless they can slowly accelerate it – which I think it doubtful, this won’t work.

      I’d LOVE to be wrong.

    • @Br3tn777

      September 6, 2026 at 12:43 pm

      ​@ross-carlsonYhh, I remember watching a video on a railgun assisted orbital launcher from SubjectZeroScience. Acceleration and the energy required are 2 major technological hurdles we have to pass.

  3. @ropro9817

    September 6, 2026 at 9:16 am

    But in the full scale version, how are they going to maintain (and increase) pressure over a 10 meter diameter tube that’s 15 km long? 🤔

  4. @alistairlacaille

    September 6, 2026 at 9:31 am

    I knew about magnetic mass drivers, and I discovered spinning mass drivers more recently, but I never knew there was a gas powered option. That’s dope!

  5. @BookishlyBohemian

    September 6, 2026 at 10:09 am

    Let’s not do that.

  6. @willcookmakeup

    September 6, 2026 at 10:10 am

    Hmmm…it’s an interesting idea, very curious to see if we’ll see it completed in our lifetime. Still baffled me how people get funding for stuff like this lmfao

  7. @mattwilliams1168

    September 6, 2026 at 11:48 am

    So another Spin launch that’ll never actually work.

  8. @ross-carlson

    September 6, 2026 at 11:50 am

    And all those g-forces – 200g? And you want sensitive electronics in orbit then this is NOT the way.

    Wonder how much money they’ll waste before they stop.

  9. @Br3tn777

    September 6, 2026 at 12:41 pm

    This reminds me of a @SubjectZeroScience conceptual video on a railgun assisted orbital lanucher. I will say that while the physical constraints presented in that video look to be the same here, (ultra long tracks, G forces, etc), the method of propulsion and the energies required look to be much more feasible. Godspeed Longshot!

  10. @SaiGe-r9i

    September 6, 2026 at 12:47 pm

    So what would be the benefit of using gas instead of “just” building a very long railgun? You’d have much more control over the acceleration and exit speeds. ……

  11. @TheTransformationBodySwap01

    September 6, 2026 at 1:38 pm

    Sounds like the MASS device used in the anime series Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny.

  12. @christophermontoya5526

    September 6, 2026 at 1:45 pm

    Wow

  13. @AkbarZG

    September 6, 2026 at 2:05 pm

    @3:55, it’s still not clear to me. How it will go to space when it’s not pointing towards the sky?

  14. @J.J.A.S

    September 6, 2026 at 2:41 pm

    Excelente video, gracias por el audio en español❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  15. @mhughes1160

    September 6, 2026 at 3:04 pm

    This is a version of Hilter’s mega gun designed to launch projectiles across the English Channel in WW2

  16. @tbeehler

    September 6, 2026 at 4:28 pm

    As Gerard Bull all about that.

  17. @trexeyesonly55

    September 6, 2026 at 6:20 pm

    Jules Verne

  18. @kusumayogi7956

    September 6, 2026 at 8:16 pm

    Hhmm..

  19. @galacticmaui2

    September 6, 2026 at 8:47 pm

    And then the AI takes over control and we all die.

  20. @drew9668

    September 7, 2026 at 12:08 am

    At 0:15…if the who have their way?🤔

  21. @SKPatelx

    September 7, 2026 at 1:08 am

    Everyone knows that it’s a copy of Hittler time German made gun to shoot projectiles on England from Germany.

  22. @GeneratingTestimonials

    September 7, 2026 at 5:00 am

    Going to have to shut down a crazy amount of air space to launch a payload that way.

  23. @wdavem

    September 7, 2026 at 7:49 am

    🤣

  24. @spotontheroad1

    September 7, 2026 at 8:03 am

    This is what the Nazis built on the coast of France in WW2 and what Saddam Hussein was building in the 1990’s…the ‘supergun’. Old tech.

  25. @frankdatank5002

    September 7, 2026 at 8:30 am

    The Germans designed something that looks just like this in World War II

  26. @Amprobiuss

    September 7, 2026 at 8:37 am

    What kind of a countdown was that? Who starts from 4?

  27. @xenocore01

    September 7, 2026 at 8:38 am

    Last guy that made one of these got a bullet in the head.

  28. @CNET

    September 7, 2026 at 8:53 am

    Read more about Longshot Space on CNET.com:
    World’s Largest Gun Aims to Shoot Satellites Into Space

  29. @CNET

    September 7, 2026 at 8:53 am

    Read more about Longshot Space on CNET.com: World’s Largest Gun Aims to Shoot Satellites Into Space

  30. @pjbth

    September 7, 2026 at 9:00 am

    Last people doing this ended up working for Sadam Hussein and being assassinated if I remember correctly or just killed….shows how great an idea it is 😂

    let’s build stuff that spends 99.99% of it’s time in weightlessness to survive hundreds (1000s?) of G’s at launch… you waste so much weigh

  31. @CoreyBurnett-t7n

    September 7, 2026 at 9:30 am

    use a long tube buried in the ground full of electro-magnets then you would only need a small booster for maneuvering. You can not just throw something into space that can not course correct to avoid everything else that is floating up there.

  32. @Cpt_Lucky

    September 7, 2026 at 9:38 am

    That is extremely similar design to WW2 Germany secret “dart” gun design to shoot tank ammunition like projectiles even on London.

    Still almost all meaningful inventions are copied, wariations or completely stollen form Germany Science.

  33. @chatreeimjaroen1557

    September 7, 2026 at 9:49 am

    v3 super gun

  34. @zorintoto1167

    September 7, 2026 at 9:50 am

    Mossad is gonna make some house calls …. Iykyk

  35. @fin3125

    September 7, 2026 at 9:55 am

    17000 mph after going through the atmosphere without burning up. I don’t understand how they’re getting past that physics

    • @CraftAero

      September 7, 2026 at 2:55 pm

      No need to get past physics… just get past the investors.

  36. @fin3125

    September 7, 2026 at 9:58 am

    Sounds like one of those projects where you’re only goal is to trick investors

  37. @terrylong8894

    September 7, 2026 at 10:03 am

    So basically, Gerald Bull and the Babylon Gun.

    • @groundhalo

      September 8, 2026 at 8:50 pm

      More injections. But yes

  38. @AlB-n9b

    September 7, 2026 at 10:19 am

    No known material could survive atmosphere at those speeds. No delivery vehicle, so no point.

  39. @infinitepower1449

    September 7, 2026 at 10:28 am

    Didn’t they do this in the 1960’s? Then saddam wanted to do this in the Middle East in the 90’s but got invaded when bush thought he was building a “wmd” 😅

  40. @bigmock141

    September 7, 2026 at 10:49 am

    Investor trap

  41. @Duluszus

    September 7, 2026 at 11:30 am

    Nazis build few,was called V3.

  42. @joachim2464

    September 7, 2026 at 11:38 am

    Who the heck is gonna spend huge amounts of money certifying their payloads for thousands of Gs when they in a few years can launch reliably on a reusable starship where the main cost will be fuel. In terms of spaceflight cost fuel is cheap. There will be no market for this. Also. Even if you manage to shoot a big payload and have it survive. You would still have to circularize the orbit. Which means you still have to launch a complete propulsion system.

  43. @bakabaka2061

    September 7, 2026 at 11:38 am

    you can’t…. their tried.

  44. @CraftAero

    September 7, 2026 at 2:53 pm

    I guess these guys never heard of Gerald Bull, probably because he was Canadian.
    10 years from now, they’ll be where he was 40 years ago.

    • @mckutzy

      September 8, 2026 at 12:36 pm

      ……dead????? ….and of course not shot by the mossaad…

    • @turboslag

      September 8, 2026 at 5:46 pm

      Saved me from making the same comment. And, little known fact, the barrel sections for the gun he was commissioned to make for Sadaam Husain were made by a pipe line manufacturer here in the UK, specifically in the industrial west midlands.
      It was discovered by our intelligence service who were tipped off by the dept of trade and industry who became suspicious of the spec and quantity of the sections. It was then seized and prevented from being exported.
      Very coincidentally, our family business was only a few miles away from that factory and I remember being amazed when the story broke!

  45. @LegendaryInfortainment

    September 7, 2026 at 3:02 pm

    Then the satellites would have to be built to Oaklandian specifications, and take hella G’s. Probably more, a hella lot of G’s.

  46. @cemdursun

    September 8, 2026 at 5:09 am

    Payload has to survive 200g and they think it wouldn’t be an issue?
    They haven’t tested that at all, did they? Just some boys having fun with their big guns

  47. @countryfucius

    September 8, 2026 at 6:46 am

    This is almost as dumb as Spinlaunch. …almost…

  48. @mshahrukhakram0

    September 8, 2026 at 6:58 am

    German built it first

  49. @bombayvega7021

    September 8, 2026 at 7:40 am

    so basically this is the german gun they used in France.

  50. @jrrarglblarg9241

    September 8, 2026 at 8:38 am

    Jules Verne did the acceleration math in the 1860’s but wrote the story “from the earth to the moon” anyway because he was a science fiction writer, not a scientist.
    Shooting projectiles into orbit from the ground puts excess g force load on the payload.

  51. @------country-boy-------

    September 8, 2026 at 8:41 am

    They need to build it on a mountain range somewhere with a 45 degree angle up to the sky. That would be more efficient than launching horizontally.

    • @Sy162-u9x

      September 8, 2026 at 1:31 pm

      @——country-boy——- contact with the very first layer of dense atmospheric conditions at the end of the muzzle will remain their biggest challenge.

  52. @moonliteX

    September 8, 2026 at 8:46 am

    15KM??????

  53. @PureHokkaido

    September 8, 2026 at 9:03 am

    Idiotic, but good to scam some money from ignorant investors.

  54. @2-by4

    September 8, 2026 at 11:13 am

    Yeah… good luck with designing lightweight satellite which withstands those G loads

  55. @JaniMelender

    September 8, 2026 at 11:20 am

    Idea: Suck some or most of the air out of the gun barrel before launching. Less air resistance at the start, and you’d still have the same air resistance once it exits the barrel. You would have to have something open gradually to let the projectile through at the end though, like a chute. And as the engineers say, the G forces aren’t really all that problematic, the spin launch guys have measured up to thousands of G’s on their equipment, without breaking.

    You could possibly also have chutes SHUT along the launch, in order to disallow gas to travel backwards. They’d have to be very fast though.

  56. @rwallen11

    September 8, 2026 at 12:02 pm

    Never going to happen.

  57. @DynamicAthleteHub

    September 8, 2026 at 12:44 pm

    Si a nuke cannon

  58. @mckutzy

    September 8, 2026 at 12:45 pm

    They all like act this is super state of the art “new technology” … the Germans and Bull both made and did extensive work on this…

    As I recall there is an international limitation on barrel bore size due to Bull’s experiments of these guns, as they can be used to put a nucular weapon in space….
    Of course his original ideas were putting satellites with project harp, in Barbados, where the gun still lies on the beach, but Saddam Hussein had bigger pockets and bigger ideas of what to shoot.
    In the end Bull got killed…

  59. @PressRecord777

    September 8, 2026 at 1:28 pm

    Even if satellite fragility can’t be solved, just the ability to throw construction elements for in-orbit assembly would be a game changer.

  60. @Sy162-u9x

    September 8, 2026 at 1:32 pm

    This looks like Lillium Jet. But for launching.

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