The Prototype: Space Company Voyager’s Stock Soars On IPO
In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at a big space stock IPO, Korea’s plan to dominate the world of robots, building electric motors without metal and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Technologies Inc.
© 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP
Space company Voyager Technologies brought in nearly $383 million in its IPO on Wednesday, with shares priced at $31. The company offers a number of different space services for both governments and commercial customers, including services on board the International Space Station. Its stock price soared upon the opening of trading, hitting a sky-high $63.88 at one point on Wednesday. It’s since come back down to Earth a bit, closing at $49.70 yesterday, giving it a market cap of over $2.7 billion.
The company plans to use the increased capital to expand a number of its offerings, particularly Starlab, a private space station the company is developing for use after the International Space Station is decommissioned. Investors hope this success might lead to more IPOs in the space sector this year.
P.S. – Quick housekeeping note: There will be no edition of the Prototype next week, as I will be off for the holiday. See you all back here on the 27th!
How South Korea’s Chaebols Are Pushing The Robotics Revolution
Joe Buglewicz/AP
In 2021 Hyundai Motor Company paid $1.1 billion to acquire 80% of robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics, famous for videos of its dog-shaped bot named Spot and its running and jumping humanoid Atlas. The deal initially seemed more of a headline grab for Hyundai rather than part of a fully baked strategy.
That’s no longer the case. Four years later, Hyundai now represents the tip of the spear in Korea Inc.’s thrust into robotics. The company has continued to develop Spot, especially for use as a roving site inspector, and is also iterating on Atlas, with the intention of selling mass-produced humanoids controlled by AI as soon as 2028.
Hyundai’s robotics lab has already deployed its X-ble platform of wearable robotic exoskeletons for use in factories. X-ble Shoulder, launched late last year after trials with 300 workers, is said to reduce shoulder and deltoid muscle exertions by more than 30% when lifting heavy objects like car parts. Its X-ble MEX is a more complicated rehabilitation suit that can help people walk again. Incredibly, these X-ble exoskeletons don’t require an outside power source, instead using passive spring-torque mechanics.
Industrial robots are nothing new to Korea, which already leads the world in density of robot deployment, with 1,000 bots per 10,000 factory workers, compared to about 300 in the U.S. and 470 in China.
But now its industries and government see a massive opportunity for robots outside the factory. A new public-private partnership, the K-Humanoid Alliance, aims to offer a commercially viable bipedal bot by 2028 that weighs less than 130 pounds, can lift 40 pounds, walk about 3 yards per second and can move with the flexibility enabled by more than 50 joints. The K-Humanoid Alliance also seeks to develop a common AI “brain” that all Korean robots can use.
Read the whole story at Forbes.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: AN ELECTRIC MOTOR WITHOUT METAL
A team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has invented an electric motor that doesn’t use any metal. Instead, its main electric components are made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are lighter than metals but just as electrically conductive. Use of this material has been proposed in the past, but has been hampered by the fact that making CNTs involves metals, and the residue left behind ends up degrading electrical performance. The researchers figured out a way to remove those metal particles with a chemical process that didn’t disrupt the CNT’s structure.
FINAL FRONTIER: FIRST IMAGES OF THE SUN’S SOUTH POLE
The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has sent back the first clear images of the sun’s south pole. The unique views of the sun were captured on March 16-17, when the Solar Orbiter was orbiting the sun from 15 degrees below the solar equator, enabling this first look. The spacecraft’s three cameras provide images of the sun in visible light, ultraviolet light, and light emanating from different temperatures of charged gas above the sun’s surface, revealing distinct layers of the sun’s atmosphere.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I wrote about RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory committee purge, a tech billionaire’s funding of research on AI and healthcare, FDA approval of a new medicine that prevents RSV in infants and digital health company Omada’s IPO.
On the Forbes YouTube channel, I spoke with my colleague Brittany Lewis about the potential science impacts of the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts to NASA as well as the potential consequences of HHS Secretary Kennedy firing all members of a key vaccine advisory committee.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
Researchers developed a new kind of paint that can passively cool buildings. It does this in two ways. First, its color reflects sunlight, which is a well-known technique. But it also incorporates nanoparticles that make the paint more porous, so that it captures more water when it’s wet. When that water evaporates, it cools down the building, working the same way sweat does to cool down your body.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope took new photos of Uranus, giving scientists new insights about the seventh planet. One surprise: Its magnetic field doesn’t interact with its moons.
IBM is aiming to have the first practical quantum computer built by 2028. It will comprise modular units each containing quantum chipsets, and the company says it has figured out scalable error correction, one of the major issues holding quantum computing back.
Satellite company Kymeta developed a single antenna that can communicate across multiple radio frequency bands. Until now, a satellite had to be outfitted with multiple antennas to do this, so this could lay a foundation for more seamless satellite communications.
A gene therapy for hemophilia is still safe and effective, over a decade after it is first administered. A new study found that 10 patients who received it between 2010 and 2012 still showed the benefits of their one-time treatment, with few side effects.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: MAKE YOUR BUSINESS MORE PROFITABLE WITH AN IPO
An analysis of over 3,500 companies across Europe over a span of 20 years found that firms that are newly-listed on the stock market will see a quick boost of profit compared to private companies that abandon their plans to IPO. The researchers also found that those companies see an increase in sales per employee and greater market expansion following going public as well. “Going public may unlock growth potential, provided market conditions are favourable,” researcher Francisco Urzua said in a press release about the study.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
The great rock musician Brian Wilson passed away earlier this week at the age of 82. To commemorate his legacy, Rolling Stone enshrined 25 of his essential songs, and I can’t quibble with any of their picks. My own personal top five: “God Only Knows”, “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”, “Good Vibrations”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” and the utterly transcendent “Love And Mercy.” He may be gone now, but he’s left behind an incredible catalog of music.