US company wants to set a record of launching 250 satellites at the same time

Meridian Space will consist of small "microsatellites" that can be launched into low Earth orbit,SpaceSpinLaunch has received $12 million in funding from Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace to support the development and commercialization of the satellite system, with the first test launch into orbit scheduled for 2026.

Meridian Space will provide “significantly higher bandwidth in satellite systems than what is currently available on the market,” according to Eirik Lie, president of Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. David Wrenn, CEO of SpinLaunch, added that NanoAvionics’ modular small satellite platforms provide a reliable foundation for rapidly scaling satellite systems.

SpinLaunch also shared an image of a batch of Meridian Space satellites sitting on a launch vehicle. The flat satellites appear to be stacked on top of each other, showing how the company plans to fit 250 of them on a single rocket.

If SpinLaunch successfully launches 250 satellites at once, it will set a new record for the number of satellites launched in a single flight. The current record is 143, set by SpaceX on its Transporter-1 mission in 2021.

It’s unclear whether SpinLaunch will launch its 2026 test satellites using its giant centrifuges themselves or another rocket. The company is developing a 100-foot-long rotating arm that will accelerate the rockets to extremely high speeds inside the centrifuges before “throwing” them into the sky. Once they reach a certain altitude, the rockets will fire their engines. This launch method significantly reduces the amount of fuel and hardware needed to reach orbit.

In 2022, NASA has signed an agreement with SpinLaunch for a technology demonstration in which experimental kits from the agency, Airbus and Cornell University will be launched into suborbital space using centrifuges.