Catapulting satellites into space. Making all the data center heat useful. Why memory technology needs disrupting. All that and more in this week’s Prototype. To get it in your inbox, sign up here.

As I mentioned earlier this month, the space economy is facing a bottleneck when it comes to rocket launches: Demand is currently outstripping supply. It’s also possible that there will be fewer launches in 2026 than there were in 2025. To be sure, there are plenty of rocket companies racing to close the gap, but “It’s not rocket science” is a cliché for a reason: Actual rocket science is often filled with delays and setbacks.

It’s why Winnie Lai wants to eliminate rockets from at least part of the equation. She’s the founder of Auriga Space, which is developing a linear electromagnetic accelerator to catapult rockets to high altitudes, where their engines kick in to bring them to orbit. It essentially replaces the typical first stage of a rocket.

This isn’t a new idea–physicist Gerard O’Neill proposed it in the 1970s, and subsequent generations of scientists have worked on the problem. Today, the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford uses an electromagnetic system to enable fighter jets to take off.

What’s kept such systems from space launch, Lai told me, is that the underlying technology wasn’t ready yet–but advances in electronics and semiconductors have changed the equation. Today, her company has already built prototype systems that can fire small metal slugs up to Mach 2.4 (that’s over 1,800 miles per hour).

So far, Auriga has raised more than $12 million from investors and Department of Defense grants. Earlier this month, the company announced that it’s........

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