Founded by Ariel Ekblaw (SM ’17, PhD ’20), Danielle DeLatte ’11, and former MIT research scientist Sana Sharma, Aurelia builds on the work initiated through MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative.
Its portfolio includes technology prototyping, microgravity experimentation, and policy engagement designed to broaden participation in space-related fields.
Microgravity missions double as workforce training
Each year, Aurelia charters a microgravity flight carrying around 25 participants. The missions combine scientific research with early-career exposure to real spaceflight conditions. To date, nearly 200 individuals, ranging from artists to teachers, have participated in flights through either Aurelia or its MIT predecessor. More than 70 percent of them have remained active in the space sector.
“We’ve done that every year,” says Ekblaw. “We now have multiple cohorts of students that connect across years. It brings together people from very different backgrounds. We’ve had artists, designers, architects, ethicists, teachers, and others fly with us.”
Aurelia also delivers open-source education for designing microgravity experiments and contributes to outreach programs that intersect with academia, industry, and the arts.
TESSERAE technology tested aboard the ISS
A core part of Aurelia’s research includes TESSERAE (Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments), a self-assembling modular architecture system for use in orbit. The project began during Ekblaw’s graduate studies and has since been tested in microgravity flights, a suborbital launch with Blue Origin, and on the International Space Station (ISS).
In 2022, TESSERAE was included on the first private mission to the ISS, where astronauts evaluated its autonomous assembly and disassembly under space conditions. A follow-up test is scheduled for early 2026, supported by a NASA grant.
Aurelia recently spun off the TESSERAE project into a separate company, with plans for future spinoffs as research matures.
Designing habitats for space and Earth
Aurelia’s research portfolio also includes human-scale space architecture projects. These include a space garden, a 20-foot geodesic dome depicting future orbital habitats, and other deployable structures aimed at supporting life in orbit.
“The architectural work is asking, ‘How are we going to outfit these systems and actually make the habitats part of a life worth living?’” says Ekblaw.
One recent installation, a pavilion designed to reflect future space environments, was featured in a six-month exhibition at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
The team frames space as a proving ground for robust technologies that may also serve communities on Earth. “When you design something for the rigors of space, you often hit on really robust technologies for Earth,” Ekblaw says.