Ariel Ekblaw

Dr. Ariel Ekblaw is an American aerospace architect and astronautical engineer recognized for her contributions to space architecture and astronautical engineering. Ekblaw is the founding CEO of Aurelia Institute and general partner for Aurelia Foundry Fund, a hybrid space architecture research institute and venture incubation studio. She also founded the Space Exploration Initiative at MIT Media Lab and served as its director, focusing on the design and prototyping of technology for future space exploration, including space habitats and systems for astronauts and space tourists.

Ekblaw holds a Bachelor of Science in physics, mathematics, and philosophy from Yale University and earned a Ph.D. from MIT, where she developed a novel space architecture habitat for autonomously self-assembling space structures. Her professional experience includes supersymmetry research and big data programming at CERN, user-centered design and product development at Microsoft Azure, microgravity research with NASA, and hardware systems engineering for the Mars2020 rover at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ekblaw has contributed to space hardware currently operating on the surface of Mars.

Central to Ekblaw's research is TESSERAE, an acronym for Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments. This project introduces a system of magnetic, self-assembling tiles designed for future space habitats. Her research has been tested in zero gravity on parabolic flights, on a sub-orbital launch with Blue Origin, during a 30-day International Space Station mission, and onboard Axiom's Ax-1 mission.

Ekblaw is the author and editor of "Into the Anthropocosmos: A Whole Space Catalog from the MIT Space Exploration Initiative." She serves on the NASA Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Executive Committee and the XPRIZE Global Visioneering Committee. Ekblaw holds fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center and Chiba Institute of Technology. Through the Space Exploration Initiative, she brings together artists, scientists, engineers, and designers to co-create human and robotic experiences in space.

Her work has been featured in a mainstage TED talk, WIRED, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, BBC, CNN, NPR, and technology podcasts. Ekblaw advocates for the integration of architecture, biophilia, and mental health-centered design in space habitats, emphasizing the importance of designing environments that support everyday life beyond Earth.