In-Orbit Manufacturing, AI Data Centers, and the New Space Economy with MIT’s Ariel Ekblaw
June 2, 2026
For most of human history, space has been a place we visited. The next chapter may be about building there.
For decades, space was the domain of governments, astronauts, and science fiction. Today, falling launch costs, reusable rockets, and a new generation of ambitious founders are turning orbit into something else entirely: a place to build. The question is no longer whether humanity can construct large-scale infrastructure in space, but what we should build first-and why.
In this episode of TechSurge, host Sriram Vishwanath speaks with Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, Founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute, Research Affiliate at MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative, and founder of Rendezvous Robotics. Ariel has spent her career exploring one of the most fundamental challenges of the emerging space economy: how to build structures in orbit that are far larger than anything that can fit inside a rocket.
Ariel explains the origins of TESSERAE, her pioneering work on autonomous self-assembling space architecture, and how ideas borrowed from biology, swarm intelligence, and modular construction could unlock a future of massive solar arrays, communications infrastructure, orbital laboratories, and eventually human habitats in space.
The conversation explores the rapidly emerging market for in-orbit infrastructure, including AI data centers in space, space-based solar power, and the technologies needed to support a permanent industrial presence beyond Earth. Ariel breaks down the engineering realities behind these ideas—why cooling data centers in space is harder than most people assume, how autonomous assembly could solve the scale problem, and why the future of orbital infrastructure may look more like a business park than a collection of standalone satellites.
Sriram and Ariel also discuss the broader implications of humanity’s return to space: the economics unlocked by reusable launch systems, the opportunities created by dramatically lower transportation costs, and the second-order innovations that may emerge from building an industrial ecosystem in orbit. Along the way, they examine space debris, stewardship of the orbital commons, artificial gravity, and what it will take to make long-term human habitation in space viable.
At the heart of the discussion is Ariel’s belief that space is not an escape from Earth’s problems, but a tool for solving them. Whether through advanced manufacturing, new energy systems, biotechnology research, or entirely new industries, she argues that the next era of space exploration should be focused on improving life here at home.
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Episode Links:
- Ariel Ekblaw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arielekblaw
- Aurelia Institute:https://www.aureliainstitute.org
- Rendezvous Robotics:https://www.rdvrobotics.com
- MIT Space Exploration Initiative: https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/space-exploration/overview/
- How Aurelia is Designing Self-Assembling Space Stations: https://www.fastcompany.com/91242689/how-the-aurelia-institute-is-designing-a-self-assembling-space-station
- Overview Energy (Space-Based Solar Power): https://www.overviewenergy.com
- StarCatcher Industries (Space-to-Space Power Transmission): https://www.starcatcherindustries.com
- Impulse Space (Orbital Transportation): https://www.impulsespace.com
References Mentioned During the Discussion:
- Earthrise - The Apollo 8 Photograph: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/apollo-8-earthrise/
- Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”: https://www.planetary.org/worlds/pale-blue-dot
- Buckminster Fuller Institute: https://www.bfi.org
Watch Ariel’s Talks & Interviews
- Aurelia Institute YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AureliaInstitute
- Ariel’s TED Talk: https://youtu.be/IHrGK3Mu5K4?si=QwGHq1BEoB-QMUjk
- Space Business Podcast - Self-Assembling Space Habitats with Ariel Ekblaw: https://spacebusiness.podbean.com/e/137-self-assembling-space-habitats-ariel-ekblaw-founder-ceo-aurelia-institute/
Further Reading
- NASA’s Artemis Program: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
- International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station
- Aurelia Institute’s Vision for Humanity’s Future in Space: https://www.aureliainstitute.org
- MIT News: Supporting Mission-Driven Space Innovation: https://news.mit.edu/2025/supporting-mission-driven-space-innovation-aurelia-institute-0710
Timestamps:
[00:00] Highlights
[00:34] Welcome to the Episode
[02:33] The New Space Race Begins
[04:10] Meet Dr. Ariel Ekblaw
[06:30] Why We Explore Space?
[12:53] How She Discovered Self-Assembly at MIT
[17:10] How TESSERAE Tiles Build Themselves
[20:14] How the Tiles Coordinate Like a Swarm
[24:47] Repairing and Reconfiguring Structures in Orbit
[28:32] Why the Space Industry Is Exploding Now
[34:25] The Case for AI Data Centers in Space
[45:21] How Much Compute Will Move to Space?
[48:40] Why This Space Era Is Different
[52:24] The Growing Problem of Space Debris
[55:14] Building the Next SpaceX
[57:27] What Could Go Wrong in Space?
[59:33 ] How Many Hours of Gravity Do Humans Need?
[01:00:38] Why We Should Build in Low Earth Orbit First
[01:05:09] Should We Really Colonize Mars?
[01:11:27] Could You Commute to Space for Work?
[01:13:50] Who Makes the Rules in Space?
[01:22:30] What's Overhyped and Underhyped in Space
[01:26:57] What's the Real Story in Space?
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The Nobel Winner Who Built Google's Quantum Computer: Why I'm Building NVIDIA of Quantum
In this episode, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. John Martinis reveals how his breakthrough in superconducting qubits made quantum physics real at macroscopic scale and what it means for the future of technology. The former lead of Google's Quantum AI lab explains why quantum computing is so fragile, why a lot of hype has a low chance to work, and why his fabless company Qolab could be the Nvidia of quantum computing.
In this conversation, Dr. Martinis joins Tech Surge to explain the science behind macroscopic quantum coherence, the engineering challenges of scaling quantum computers, and how hybrid quantum-classical computing will shape the future of technology.
The conversation covers:
✅ How the superconducting qubit breakthrough won the Nobel Prize in Physics
✅ Why Nature wants to destroy quantum coherence and why quantum is fragile
✅ From academic physics to building Google's quantum computer
✅ The engineering challenge of scaling quantum computing beyond the lab
✅ Why a lot of quantum computing hype has a low chance to work
✅ How Qolab's fabless model could scale quantum hardware
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Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on 40 Years of Contrarian Bets in Semiconductors
Silicon Valley was built on semiconductors, but for nearly two decades, venture capital shifted its attention towards software. Today, AI is changing that as the demand for compute, memory and networking explodes, hardware is once again at the centre of the industry's biggest bets.
In this episode of TechSurge, host Michael Marks speaks with Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel and one of the semiconductor industry's most influential investors and executives. The conversation traces Tan's journey from studying nuclear engineering at MIT to leading Cadence's turnaround, investing in more than 500 technology companies, and now steering Intel through one of the most significant transformations in its history.
Tan shares his VC conviction on backing semiconductor startups when most venture investors favored software, and why he believes AI's next breakthroughs will come from advances in memory, packaging, photonics, cooling and high-speed connectivity. He also opens up on the leadership philosophy that defined his time at Cadence, where listening to customers and building a culture of responsiveness became the foundation of the company's revival.
Wearing his CEO hat, Tan explains Intel's long-term strategy, why vertical integration still matters, how the company plans to reconnect with the startup ecosystem, and why missing another technology wave is not an option.
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The Moving Bottleneck: Networking, Power, Memory, and the Race to Win AI
Artificial intelligence is often discussed through models and GPUs. This episode looks beneath that surface, at the power delivery and networking required to make AI work at scale.
Host Sriram Viswanathan speaks with Rajiv Khemani, a serial deep tech entrepreneur whose career has tracked several major infrastructure cycles: internet networking, cloud switching, blockchain compute and now AI networking. Khemani reflects on his early work at NetBoost and Intel, his operating role at Cavium, and the founding of Innovium, which Marvell agreed to acquire for $1.1 billion in 2021. He also explains how work on low-power blockchain silicon led his team toward the infrastructure demands created by generative AI.
The discussion examines why incumbents often overlook emerging markets, why purpose-built hardware can outperform systems inherited from an earlier technology cycle, and how founders decide whether to keep financing a company or sell while the outcome remains attractive. Khemani describes the concentration risk of selling to a small number of hyperscalers, the fragility of semiconductor supply chains, and why leading-edge chip development now demands much larger balance sheets.
The conversation then turns to AI’s emerging bottlenecks. Large models require many accelerators to operate as one computer, making low-latency scale-up and scale-out networks central to performance. The episode explores heterogeneous compute, open networking standards, memory scarcity, AI’s growing electricity demand, and the competition between AI and Bitcoin mining for energy.
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