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UPDATE: Heron Aerospace has been granted access to a 5" bore Naval Cannon at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

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The launch-cannon development efforts of Heron Aerospace are based upon the engineering accomplishments of the late Dr. Gerald V. Bull and his HARP program (which ran approximate from 1959 to 1969).

As Phase-I work at Heron Aerospace progresses in this area, we hope to guide the work toward the development of "pure gas guns," utilizing highly compressed gasses, or high pressure super-heated steam, as opposed to the explosives-based guns utilized by Bull; though we are not opposed to traditional explosives-based guns either. We will follow the most economical route.

Pure gas guns have some potential advantages over more traditional explosives based cannons; some of which are: 1.) Improved safety. 2.) Improved propulsion efficiences. 3.) Improved control. And 4.) Reduced regulation.

Heron Aerospace Launch Cannons will also differ from the HARP cannons of Dr. Bull, in that we will benefit from 33 years of significant advances in materials science, production engineering, and computing. We will be able to build lighter, stronger, and more robust systems.

Some of the initial markets that would benefit the most, in the near-term, from deployment of this launch system would be micro-sats (of various application), express mail, and wireless communications. With further developments, and larger guns, even fragile payloads, like live humans, could be delivered safely with this system.

 

NOTE: It is commonly misconstrued that we plan to launch things at escape velocity from the cannon -- which causes a lot of objection as to the plausibility of the whole system. While technically possible (though very challenging technically) to launch things at escape velocity from the Earth's surface, it is important to realize that we do not plan to launch things at escape velocity from the cannon; rather, the cannon serves as a first stage of a multi-stage system. Muzzel velocities will range from about 3000 to 7000 ft/sec (about 1.5 to 3 Km/sec.). The cannon merely serves as an initial boost to send a rocket to a very high altitude, clear of most of the atmosphere so that the rocket can go farther more efficiently -- this lets us use smaller rockets and send up more payload for a given mission profile than current rocket systems can.