Editing Mass driver (section)

==Practical attempts==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Northrup Electric Gun.png|thumb|140px|Edwin Northrup's 1937 Electric Gun Mass Driver]] -->

One of the first engineering descriptions of an "Electric Gun" appears in the technical supplement of the 1937 science fiction novel "Zero to Eighty" by "Akkad Pseudoman",<ref>{{cite book|last=Pseudoman|first=Akkad|title=Zero to Eighty|date=1937|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey}}</ref> a pen name for the Princeton physicist and electrical entrepreneur [[Edwin Fitch Northrup]].  Dr. Northrup built prototype coil guns powered by kHz-frequency three-phase electrical generators, and the book contains photographs of some of these prototypes.  The book describes a fictional circumnavigation of the moon by a two-person vehicle launched by a Northrup electric gun.

Later prototype mass drivers have been built since 1976 ([[Mass Driver 1]]), some constructed by the U.S. [[Space Studies Institute]] in order to prove their properties and practicality.  [[Coilgun#Uses|Military R&D on coilguns]] is related, as are [[maglev|maglev trains]].

[[SpinLaunch]], a company founded in 2014, conducted the initial test of their test accelerator in October 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sheetz|first=Michael|date=2021-11-09|title=Alternative rocket builder SpinLaunch completes first test flight|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spinlaunch-completes-first-test-flight-of-alternative-rocket.html|access-date=2021-11-11|website=CNBC|language=en}}</ref>