Most weeklong tech events offer opportunities for entrepreneurs to network and trade tips, serious sessions where CEOs and public officials share their visions, and happy hours where future deals are made. But how many “tech weeks” include a show-and-tell featuring a military-grade Jet Gun?
This was one of the bonus attractions during Seattle Space Weeka hodgepodge of events catered by Northwest Space and its partners.
By the time attendees were seated for Monday’s opening session in the Pioneer Building in the heart of Pioneer Square, team members from Wave Motion Launch Corp. parked a box truck outside the building and opened the back to reveal the prototype jet blaster they are testing for the US Army.
Two of the Everett, Washington-based startup’s co-founders, CEO Finn van Donkelaar and chief operating officer James Penna, climbed into the truck and explained their project to a crowd that gathered on the sidewalk.
Wave Motion’s Jet Gun uses a concentrated blast of gas and small particles to propel a projectile at hypersonic speeds. Unlike a rocket, which has to carry its own propellant, the Jet Gun would launch the projectile (or, say, a satellite) into the air (or, say, space) from the ground. Wave Motion claims the barrelless blaster has the potential to be up to 100 times more compact than a conventional rocket or cannon of equivalent power.
The weapon’s prototype is a steampunk-style contraption about 10 feet long.
“This is a demonstrator in the same way as SpaceX’s Hopper, right?” Penna told the crowd. “It’s a proof of concept [to show] that we can use this propulsion concept to at least make a vehicle go up and down, or wherever it wants to go. …So as we build bigger, more powerful jets, and build multiples of them, we will be able to design the jet.”
The prototype in the back of the truck is designed to launch a jet at speeds ranging from five to 10 times the speed of sound, Penna said. “In the orbital prototype, it will be a greater-than-Mach 20 stream of hellish steel and fire, extending tens of kilometers through the atmosphere,” he said. “It’s going to be extremely cool.”
The launch of Wave Motion was founded in 2020 and won a $1.35 million award from the U.S. Navy in 2022 for work on the Jet Gun. Last year, the company received a $1.6 million contract from the Army to support continued development. “Our business strategy is to make the first demonstrations of the principle, because this is the first propulsion system of its kind built in the world,” said Penna.
It seems reasonable to think that a blaster capable of releasing a hypersonic stream of hellfire and steel could be used as a weapon as well as a propulsion system. Van Donkelaar acknowledged that this may well be something to consider. “We hope to get some military contracts out of this as well,” he said.
Here are some other highlights from Seattle Space Week:
- Space Northwest co-founder Sean McClinton said his industry group’s goal was to increase Washington state’s annual economic activity in the space sector from $4.6 billion to $40 billion by 2040, with 90 new space startups created in the next decade (compared to 40 in the last decade).
- Washington Governor Bob Ferguson marked Seattle Space Week with a proclamation – and Joe Nguyen, director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, said he wanted to pave the way for the space industry. “This is how we can really make the government an ally and not an obstacle to the work that is being done, because this work is very urgent,” Nguyen said. “Other states and other countries are competing for this same industry.”
- Nguyen said his priorities included streamlining the licensing process for manufacturing facilities and testing sites. “Can we invest in infrastructure and energy so that we have the tools we need to succeed? Can we help foster research partnerships between universities and our companies as well?” he said.
- The state is not likely to give space companies the same types of tax incentives that Boeing received for airplane manufacturing, Nguyen said. But he said support could come in the form of infrastructure development: “One of the other priorities we have at the Department of Commerce is building clean energy…. We have identified 21 key projects that we believe can come in time for the IRA.” [Inflation Reduction Act funding] and being able to develop seven gigawatts of energy for our communities here, and that has already brought a huge benefit. We can do exactly the same thing for the space economy.”
- Several business representatives laid out a to-do list to support Washington state’s space industry, ranging from giving a bigger boost to education and workforce development to providing more access to testing facilities for space startups. “What we’re going to do is start developing a database of who has what testing resources and figure out how we can help each other,” said Marcy Mabry, CEO of the Seattle-based company. Space Launch. “So, Joe, we can talk to you.”
- Nicole Brown, Senior Mission Manager in Tukwila, Washington Star of the Sea Spacesaid accessibility and competition from other technology sectors pose major challenges for recruiting employees. “It’s very expensive here, and when you’re trying to recruit talent, even people who would really love to live here need to think twice,” Brown said. “I think we have a mission that people are very excited about, and we’re moving quickly, and people are happy to come and be creators, but we can’t compete pay-wise with some of the other tech companies here in the region.”
Seattle Space Week ends today with “Proposals for startups and networking: Seattle Space Week edition” in the Pioneer Building, followed by Space Week Karaoke in Golden Cocks in Pioneiro Square. Registration for pitch session required (but probably not for karaoke).
Leave a Reply