A
space gun, sometimes called a
Verne gun because of its appearance in
From the Earth to the Moon by
Jules Verne, is a method of launching an object into
space using a large
gun- or
cannonlike structure. Space guns could thus potentially provide a method of
non-rocket spacelaunch. It has been conjectured that space guns could place satellites into Earth's orbit (although after-launch propulsion of the satellite would be necessary to achieve a stable orbit), and could also launch spacecraft beyond Earth's gravitational pull and into other parts of the
Solar System by exceeding
Earth's escape velocity of about 11.2 km/s or . However, these speeds are too far into the
hypersonic range for most practical propulsion systems and also would cause most objects to burn up due to
aerodynamic heating or be torn apart by
aerodynamic drag. Therefore, a more likely future use of space guns would be to launch objects into near Earth orbit, from where attached rockets could be fired or the objects could be "collected" by maneuverable orbiting satellites.