Ariel Ekblaw

So pack them flat in a rocket, get that IKEA furniture.

Fine.

Pop them out like a little PEZ dispenser.

The magnets help the tiles self-assemble.

The first structure is a sphere because we want a microgravity lab because we want to do biotech research that we can't do there.

And for scientists like where I come from, from MIT, all of that.

But then the future absolutely is to try to tessellate structures and then spin them.

And so at Aurelia Institute, our nonprofit where we do all of this space architecture research, we've just released a paper on artificial gravity and our particular take on it.

Earth's magnetic field.

Got to consider that when we have magnets.

Yes, space junk.

This was the hardest question I got asked.

Yes.

And so the trade-off to modular self-assembly is you get all these seams.

So what do we do with the seams?

The magnets are what bring the exoskeleton together.

So click, click, click in this big sphere.

In addition, so the magnets pull the tiles together while they're still separated.

So instead of using propulsion or a consumable like air propulsion.

Exactly, because you couldn't do it on Earth.