This Startup Aims To Catapult Satellites Into Space | AURIGA SPACE 🚀
Alex Knapp
"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 going to market with its Prometheus accelerator–not for bringing payloads into space, but for testing materials at hypersonic speeds to start building the revenue the company will need for further development. Axiom Materials has signed on as a pilot customer.
Auriga is also developing its technology for defense purposes, such as anti-drone weapons. And in the long run, Auriga aims to build a multi-kilometer accelerator that can deliver small satellites into orbit."
“Our ultimate goal is to make space launch more efficient,” she said. “By increasing efficiency, we believe we can bring down the cost and enable more frequent launches.”
