TED Tech How to build in space for life on Earth | Ariel Ekblaw
Sep 19, 2025
Ariel Ekblaw, a space architect and founder of the Aurelia Institute, discusses revolutionary concepts in space habitation. She explains her innovative Tesserae system—modular tiles that self-assemble, designed for orbital living. Ekblaw highlights how these structures could lead to breakthroughs in biotech and energy by leveraging microgravity. She advocates for space investment as a way to tackle pressing Earth challenges, suggesting that solutions to our greatest dilemmas could emerge from beyond our planet.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Microgravity Sparked A Career
- Ariel Ekblaw first experienced microgravity 14 years ago and it inspired her career in aerospace.
- That moment motivated her to focus on building architecture for life in space.
Real Estate, Not Rockets, Is The Bottleneck
- The cost to reach space fell from >$50,000/kg to under $200/kg, transforming access and enabling new uses.
- However, Ariel identifies orbital real estate, not rockets, as the new bottleneck for scaling space infrastructure.
Self-Assembling Space Architecture
- Ekblaw's team adapts nature's self-assembly principles to build large space structures from modular tiles.
- They use electropermanent magnets so shipped parts autonomously dock and form habitats without risky astronaut assembly.