Project Research

TESSERAE: Self-Assembling Space Architecture

Overview: How will we build the coming generations of Space Architecture—the modules, space ships, and space stations that will ensc...
Project Research

The Telemetron Orchestra

When contemplating the future of life in space, we dream not only of rockets and off-world societies, but also of art, of leisure, and fr...
Project Research

Space Webs as Infrastructure for distributed sensor networks and other infrastructure on low gravity bodies

We study textiles and nets as a base form for growing infrastructure and allowing reconfigurable sensing on low gravity bodies (for insta...
Project Research

SpaceHuman

SpaceHuman is a soft robotics device designed to facilitate the exploration of environments with reduced gravity in a view of democratiza...
Project Research

Interplanetary Gastronomy

Maggie Coblentz leads research and design on interplanetary gastronomy at the Space Exploration Initiative, where she is developing ...
Project Research

Radiofungi: Biological Pigments for Radioprotection

A major concern for manned missions is space radiation. Ionizing radiation is known to pose both acute and chronic risks to many organism...
Project Research

Fermentation in Space

Fermentation in Space: From the Microbiome to the Envirome This research highlights the many opportunities to bring our rich culture...
Project Research

Molecular Gastronomy in Zero G

A molecular gastronomy experiment was flown on a zero gravity flight in August 2019, using spherification techniques to create recipes in...
Project Research

Space/Craft

Space/Craft explores sculpting in zero gravity. Making artistic works by hand is a fundamentally human act, but how will it transfor...
Project Research

Orbit Weaver Suit

​​​​​​​​​The Orbit Weaver Suit for zero gravity was designed by Media Lab Director's Fellow Andrea Lauer in collaboration with ...
Project Research

The Telemetron

Today, the environments that humans occupy in space are designed for survival. Humans are carefully shuttled to and from space, and durin...
Project Research

Spatial Flux: Body and architecture in space

Structurally, zero gravity means that we do not have to contend with architecture's greatest arch-nemesis, gravity. This opens up a new w...
Project Research

Orbit Weaver

Gravity anchors all existence on Earth.It pulls a chaotic world to one single point in every moment of life. Even though gravity is every...
Project Research

Physio FreeFall

This project seeks to examine the effects of altered gravity on an individual’s physiology during parabolic flight. Specifically, we will...
Project Research

Scratch in Space

The Scratch Team invited young people from around the world to create Scratch projects designed specifically to be played in zero gr...
Project Research

Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes (SETG)

The widespread synthesis of common organic building blocks in space could have biased life beyond Earth towards chemical similarities to ...
Project Research

Smells for Space: Olfactory Timecapsule for Earthly Memories

Each new technology forces us to confront who we are as humans.  As technological innovations in deep space exploration keep advanci...
Project Research

Nanoscale Imaging of Biomolecules in Zero G

Expansion microscopy (ExM) is a new imaging modality developed by MIT Media Lab's Synthetic Neurobiology group. ExM allows biomolecules t...
Project Research

VR Maze in Zero Gravity

The brain uses space to index, organize, and retrieve memories. However, our sense of space depends on our perception of gravity. We...