Because I hadn’t heard about it before I did a little Googling on “SpinLaunch.” It strikes me as an incredibly, er, ambitious project and your question seems to me a good one. I would think that releasing the front end first is the “obvious“ (if still non-trivially implemented!) way to deal with it, but at least in the material I’ve looked at so far I don’t see that question addressed anywhere including this lengthy documentary.
On Dec 17, 2022, at 8:00 AM, Timothy Folkerts via Phys-l <phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:
I had a question that I haven't seen addressed about this novel space
launch system. So I turned to you guys.
As the projectile spins up to speed, it is also rotating about its own
axis at the same rate. What happens to that rotation when the projectile
is launched? The projective seems to come out of the tube with little or
no rotation about the centrifuge axis. Could there be 'rails' to guide the
5000 mph projectile and align it along the launch tube? Could the front be
released shortly before the back to provide some counter-torque? There is
no air inside (and I can't imagine air resistance after launch immediately
stops that rotation).
Inquiring minds want to know! and a brief google search didn't provide any
quick answers.