Longshot Space wants to launch cargo with a gun
Original: Forget rockets — Longshot wants to fire cargo into space from a gun. See it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Why This Matters
Reusable ground-based launch could sharply cut per-kg costs for small cargo.
Longshot Space Technology, an Alameda, CA startup, has raised $20M to develop ground-based multi-injection guns that fire cargo into space, reaching Mach 4 so far, with a 3,000-foot gun targeting Mach 8 and 220-lb payloads.
Longshot Space Technology is reviving a concept older than the Space Age: shooting cargo into orbit with a gun. The Alameda, California-based company, cofounded by CEO Mike Grace and CTO Nato Saichek, has raised approximately $20 million in venture funding to develop what it calls multi-injection guns — barrels lined with high-pressure gas ports that fire sequentially to keep accelerating a projectile as it travels down the barrel. The approach draws on WWII-era and 1960s research programs, and Grace frames it explicitly in SpaceX terms: take proven, de-risked technology and scale it hard. "You can build something that has a lot of novelty, or you can do something really hard. You don't get to do both," he told TechCrunch. The company is currently testing a 70-foot, 6-inch-diameter gun near Barstow, California, hitting near-hypersonic speeds. Next up: a 140-foot gun with a 30-inch diameter at its Alameda site. The long-term target is a 3,000-foot barrel — the largest gun ever built — capable of launching 220-pound payloads at Mach 8. The core pitch is replacing a rocket's first stage with a reusable, ground-based accelerator. Longshot is presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.