Get Ready for Living in Orbit, Private Space Stations are Here

The MIT Space Exploration Initiative is going to San Diego Comic-Con this year! SEI's Sana Sharma will be speaking on sci-fi inspired space architectures at a panel event hosted by Dent the Future.

For almost 100 years, space stations (as we think of them today) have been a staple of science fiction. In comic books, the Justice League have their Watchtower, S.H.I.E.L.D. has their Peak, and even villains like Magneto—and of course Darth Vader—have been known to build fully "operational" orbital stations. At last, humans are now on the cusp of launching and inhabiting space stations that are privately developed, ones that hold the promise for regular citizens to live in space. Learn from Mike Massimino (former NASA astronaut), Ellie Morgan (program manager, Lockheed Starlab Team), Adrian Mangiuca (vice president of infrastructure for Voyager Space Holdings), Sana Sharma (designer and researcher at the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative), and moderator Steve Broback (co-founder of Dent the Future) discuss what the future holds, and we will also delve into the realities of living in space.

Mike Massimino

Astronaut, Senior Adviser for Space Programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum, a Columbia University professor. Mike was the first person to tweet from space, was a recurring character on The Big Bang Theory, and now is a New York Times bestselling author.

Ellie Morgan

Combat aviator, engineer, NASA analog crewmember, and program manager of the Lockheed Martin Space Starlab team. Ellie specializes in space habitation development for orbital, surface, and transport spacecraft in low earth orbit and future expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

Adrian Mangiuca

VP of Infrastructure for Voyager Space Holdings, the developers of Starlab, The First Ever Free-flying Commercial Space Station. Adrian works across the Voyager Space Holdings portfolio of companies to assist and accelerate the development of space infrastructure.

Sana Sharma: Co-founder and Chief Design Officer at Aurelia Institute and research affiliate at the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, focusing on human-centered design for novel space architectures. A designer and creative technologist, Sana works at the intersection of art, science, and emerging technologies.