The Industrial Sounding System is a proposed system to propel inert payloads to a height of up to 100 kilometers, or rocket-assisted payloads to 250 km, with the use of a cannon, announced in August 2003 and scheduled to be fully operational by late 2004. This could be used to launch science experiments into the thermosphere without the use of a rocket. There were plans to develop the system further to develop the capability to launch satellites into orbit.
References
Industrial Sounding System Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA