Quicklaunch’s genesis is the SHARP hydrogen gas gun which was built by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and operated through the 90s. SHARP set records for energy and velocity, launching vehicles at Mach 9. We intend to use SHARP for our Phase 1 milestone of launching to over 200 km altitude.

The SHARP hydrogen gas gun was designed and built by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the 1990s. It set world records for energy of projectiles launched by a light-gas gun.

SHARP was assembled in 1992 and had its first firing in December 1992.

It was located at Site 300 near the town of Tracy.

The picture below shows the assembled SHARP system.

The Air Force sponsored a series of hypersonic scramjet tests. Rockwell teamed with Johns Hopkins APL and LLNL on the scramjet design. The picture below shows a scramjet test downrange at Mach 9.