Short Wave

Could Architecture In Space Make A Greener Earth?

12 snips
Dec 16, 2025
Ariel Ekblaw, a space architect and founder of Aurelia, discusses revolutionary concepts for off-world living. She explains her company's magnetic 'tesserae'—modular tiles poised to self-assemble into livable structures in orbit. Ariel dives into off-world agriculture and how lessons learned could aid disaster relief on Earth. Additionally, she tackles challenges like space debris, launch emissions, and the potential for space-based solar energy to be beamed back to Earth safely. Her vision intertwines human and robotic efforts in creating a sustainable future beyond our planet.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Space Real Estate, Not Rockets, Is The Bottleneck

  • Ariel Ekblaw says the current bottleneck for space expansion is real estate, not rockets.
  • She argues larger volumes in orbit are needed to enable sustained human presence and industry off-world.
ANECDOTE

Testing Magnetic 'Space Lego' Tiles

  • Ariel describes Tesserae as 'space Legos' with powerful magnets that self-assemble in microgravity.
  • She tested prototypes on the ISS and plans another trip in early 2026 to validate self-assembly algorithms and magnet pulsing.
INSIGHT

Biomimetic Self-Correcting Modules

  • The Tesserae include embedded AI so tiles can self-correct bonding mistakes similar to biological self-assembly.
  • Ariel draws inspiration from proteins and DNA to create a self-correcting modular hardware system.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app