Ariel Ekblaw: Founder and director of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative and co-founder of the Aurelia Institute. Her PhD pioneered TESSERAE, tiles that autonomously self-assemble into large space structures in orbit.
What this episode covers
Ariel Ekblaw explains her vision for next-generation space architecture: instead of monolithic stations, swarms of self-assembling magnetic tiles and modular nodes that build giant, livable structures in orbit. She argues humanity's future in space is more likely floating cities in microgravity than surface colonies on Mars, which has perchlorate-laced soil and a thin atmosphere. The conversation spans the hard problems of long-duration spaceflight (radiation, mental health, reproduction, food), astrobiology and the search for non-carbon life, and the geopolitics, law, and commons questions of expanding into space. Throughout, she stresses combining engineering with the human condition, culture, and art to make space exploration meaningful.
Recommended on this episode
Foundation trilogy
Isaac Asimov
“i'd say absolutely a favorite now though my favorite uh is neil stephenson and seven eves”— Ariel Ekblaw
Seveneves
Neal Stephenson
“my favorite uh is neil stephenson and seven eves it's a book that inspired my own phd research”— Ariel Ekblaw
Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
Scott Kelly
“scott kelly wrote this amazing book after he spent a year in space and he's a twin it's absolutely fantastic”— Ariel Ekblaw
The New Breed
Kate Darling
“there's a there's a great book by kate darling who's one of my she's colleagues ... her whole work is about this connection with robots”— Ariel Ekblaw
The guest's own work
Into the Anthropocosmos: A Whole Space Catalog from the MIT Space Exploration Initiative
Ariel Ekblaw
“the book you mentioned is into the anthra cosmos a whole space catalog from the space catalog ... from the mit space exploration initiative”— Ariel Ekblaw
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick
“maybe not all the way to hal and the you know 2001 space odyssey reference that scares people about the habitat having a mind of its own”— Ariel Ekblaw
The Expanse
Amazon Studios
“you see this in series like the expanse with the belters and these you know different societies”— Ariel Ekblaw
Big reveals from this episode
- Ekblaw announces a new company spinning out of her MIT lab, Aurelia Institute, exiting stealth mode for the first time on the podcast.
- Contrarian take: Mars is not a good backup for Earth in its current state, with too many perchlorates in the soil and an atmosphere too thin to breathe.
- Her boldest hot take: humanity's future will be floating microgravity space cities, not surface settlements on planets.
- MIT announced its return to the Moon, leading a mission to the lunar south pole as early as late 2022 to support NASA's Artemis III.
- Her lab is trying to convince NASA to embrace fermented food (beer, kimchi, miso) for long-duration deep space missions.
- Mice studies suggest children born in microgravity may permanently lack intuition for Earth's 1g physics, formed in early development.
- Some Earth disabilities become 'hyper-abilities' in space; you don't need powerful legs but would benefit from a third arm.
Worth remembering
- This morning's fresh water on a space station is literally yesterday's coffee, recycled through the body and refined.
- A round trip to Mars takes about three years because Earth and Mars only align favorably at certain orbital points.
- Astronauts experience a 2g pull-out on parabolic 'vomit comet' flights and are told to consciously 'make a memory' of weightlessness.
- TESSERAE tiles use electropermanent magnets to autonomously dock, sense bad bonds, and self-correct with no human in the loop.
- A dream 'ring world' torus could encircle a planet, providing vast surface area for solar panels and docking.
- Ekblaw was at CERN on July 4, 2012, waiting overnight in line like a nerd for the Higgs boson announcement.
- The Earthrise quote from Apollo 8's Bill Anders: we came to discover the Moon, and what we really discovered was the Earth.
- Artificial gravity via spinning habitats (centripetal force) is scientifically understood; only the engineering needs tweaking.
- Space people call doors in space 'airlocks,' and truncated octahedrons are candidate space-filling shapes for stations.