As humans pursue plans for a new space station, a moon base and potential life on Mars, researchers are confronting a fundamental challenge: how to build habitats large enough to support people beyond Earth. One possible answer begins with magnetic tiles packed inside a rocket.

The technology, called TESSERAE, uses self assembling tiles that can be stacked for launch and released in space. Electro permanent magnets, cameras and artificial intelligence allow the tiles to locate one another and autonomously connect in a predetermined shape.

Once the tiles have latched together, the resulting structure can be pressurized so humans can live inside. The concept was invented by Ariel Ekblaw while she was pursuing her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ekblaw is now the founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute, a nonprofit space architecture research and development lab that has continued refining the tiles. “They can self-assemble into something way bigger than the size of the rocket that they came up in,” she said.

That approach could overcome a major constraint on space construction because rockets have limited room for carrying materials. Ekblaw said the technology could eventually support “science-fiction-worthy, big, grand structures” in space.

Building the International Space Station required dozens of missions beginning in the late 1990s. Rockets carried its components piece by piece into low Earth orbit, where robotic arms and spacewalking astronauts helped assemble the station.

Companies have since been developing structures designed to occupy less room during launch. In 2016, Bigelow Aerospace sent an inflatable structure to the ISS, where it was expanded through 25 short bursts of air over seven hours and remains attached today.

Sierra Space has also been testing a three story inflatable habitat. Max Space, which has a strategic partnership with Voyager Technologies, unveiled expandable habitat modules and argued that space development requires scalable real estate designed around how people will live and work beyond Earth.

Other researchers are investigating ways to avoid carrying as much construction material into space. European Space Agency scientists have explored producing LEGO type bricks from meteorite dust, while China is examining how bricks could be made from lunar soil.

Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger, an architect and space researcher at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria, said space habitats present numerous challenges. These include shielding people from radiation, transporting materials and designing spaces that can serve different kinds of people for long periods.

Adaptable architecture could help structures remain useful as needs change over time. Ekblaw said reconfigurability is central to TESSERAE, adding, “You could absolutely pop tiles off and pop new tiles on and reconfigure them.”

Interest in space infrastructure also extends beyond human habitats. Startups are considering data centers, solar farms that could use 24/7 sunlight and manufacturing operations beyond Earth, creating what Häuplik-Meusburger described as intense interest among many different participants.

TESSERAE stands for Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments. Tiles a few inches wide underwent small scale tests aboard the ISS in 2020 and 2022.

The latest tiles have cameras along their edges, enabling them to see one another during assembly. A planned ISS test in December or January is intended to have them form a ball shaped structure for the first time, potentially reaching the size of a giant beach ball.

A later test will be conducted by Rendezvous Robotics, a spin off from Aurelia Institute that will help commercialize the technology. The company announced on October 28 that it had raised $20 million, and Ekblaw serves as its cofounder and board chair.

Rendezvous Robotics is developing electromagnetic tiles measuring about one to three feet wide and is working to increase their size. Its first demonstration is planned for 2028 outside the ISS, where several tiles would assemble themselves into a flat shape in the harsh space environment.

Although grand infrastructure remains further away, Ekblaw identified large telecommunications antennas and solar arrays as realistic initial applications. She said the tiles might later contribute to AI data center construction and other exceptionally large infrastructure in space.