What would it take for humanity to truly live and thrive in space? Not just surviving, but creating a life worth living—complete with culture, comfort, and connection. And how might those innovations in space transform life here on Earth?

To answer these questions, few people are better to ask than Dr. Ariel Ekblaw. I am confident you’ve never met anyone like her.

Ariel is a space architect, scientist, and entrepreneur whose groundbreaking work blends bold engineering with a deep focus on human experience... and a touch of philosophy thrown in. She’s the founder of the Aurelia Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to designing the critical infrastructure and cultural systems for life in space. Ariel is also a general partner in a venture capital fund that’s building the ecosystem of space technologies to make these dreams a reality.

Before launching Aurelia, Ariel led the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, where she developed Tesserae—a self-assembling modular system that’s been tested on the International Space Station and aims to create scalable habitats for humans in space... structures to allow us – not just in the ones or twos or tens – to survive in space. She’s reimagining what it means to live beyond Earth, from spinning habitats for artificial gravity to designing musical instruments that work in zero gravity.

In our conversation, we explore Ariel’s extraordinary work, her vision for a sustainable and meaningful future in space, and why she believes that advancing space technologies can make Earth a better place for all of us.

One note about the audio: Appropriately, it sounds like Ariel is in space station. She’s not. Luckily, her ideas and vision are incredible – and communicated extremely clearly.

Here is a recording from my live video with Dan Perry of “Ask Questions Later”.

About Dan Perry: As regular CRN readers and listeners know, among other roles, Dan led the Associated Press coverage of Israel and the Middle East — from Pakistan through north Africa — for much of the 2010s, and before that he led AP in Europe and Africa. Today Dan lives in Tel Aviv and writes the excellent Substack “Ask Questions Later”. His columns appear in Newsweek and The Forward, among other places. He appears frequently on both Al Jazeera and the Israel-based i24 global television network.

I first met Dan Perry in Romania 1990. He was the AP Bureau Chief, and I was freelancing for the summer. There’s no one I’ve met who better understands collectively Israel, the Middle East, and the U.S.

So after the Hamas attack and Israel’s declaration of war, I knew whom to call.

Dan was awoken on Oct. 7 “by rocket fire over central Tel Aviv, with the Iron Dome system zapping the incoming missiles out of the sky, leaving debris to rain down on nearby streets. It is now evening, and air raid sirens continue to wail as volleys arrive from Gaza.”

About Dan: Among other roles, he led the Associated Press coverage of Israel and the Middle East — from Pakistan through north Africa — for much of the 2010s. Today Dan lives in Tel Aviv and writes the excellent Substack “Ask Questions Later”. His columns appear in the Times of Israel and Newsweek, among other places. He appears frequently on the in i24 global television network.