Vision —
Into the Anthropocosmos
With society at the cusp of interplanetary civilization, the MIT Space Exploration Initiative takes a unique approach to humanity’s horizons. We are building, testing and flying the technologies and tools of exploration that will empower Earth citizens for this new phase of our collective existence.
We unite scientists, engineers, artists and designers to prototype our Sci-Fi space future in over 40 annual research projects. The philosophy of “democratizing access to space exploration”—while bringing moonshots and earthshots into view—courses through our work. We are building a real-life, visionary "Starfleet Academy" for this dawn of expanded human activity, opportunity and responsibility in our cosmos.
Mission —
Democratizing Access to Space
Just as the Media Lab pioneered the seamless coupling of bits and atoms, digital interactivity, and the fields of affective computing and synthetic neurobiology, today the Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), directed by Ariel Ekblaw and founded in 2016, is envisioning a “new space age”–one where space exploration is democratized and will become accessible to millions, and eventually billions–of people.
Our goal is to invent, create, and deploy ideas that seem exotic and impossible today, but could be commonplace in ten years. We are creating and deploying space technologies that envision a bold and culturally rich experience of space exploration, from astro-bacteria wearables, to open-access and shareable cubesat constellations, to musical instruments for our space voyages, to self-assembling space habitats, to advanced zero-gravity 3D printing.
In exploring where this era of the “Anthropocosmos” may take us, we assert that space exploration need not focus on escaping nor on abandoning Earth. Rather, our work is centered on building towards an expansive vision for humanity wherever we may be—on Earth, in an orbit around Earth, or beyond—and finding ways for our work to still profoundly benefit life on our first planet.
Methods —
Prototyping our Sci-Fi Space Futures
We are grounded in the academic excellence of MIT, while leveraging the provocative, creative, and futuristic technology expertise at the Media Lab. The SEI now supports research across multiple Schools and Departments at MIT (including AeroAstro, EAPS, Mechanical Engineering, CSAIL, Kavli, Architecture, ACT, Sloan, and more) and we actively welcome outside-MIT collaborators as well. The Space Exploration Initiative is intentionally structured as a cross-cutting “launchpad” in direct service of our academic community.
We make opportunities available for students, staff, and faculty across the Institute to deploy cutting-edge research in world class aerospace environments—from simulations of microgravity to prized access inside the International Space Station. We run a recurring cadence of annual parabolic flights and regular suborbital and orbital launches—and soon, transport to the lunar surface.
For more on what SEI offers the community, check out our Media Lab FAQ and resources page here.