Self-assembling magnetic tiles known as TESSERAE are slated for a new structural test aboard the International Space Station this winter. Developed to pack flat inside rocket payloads, the modular hardware relies on cameras and AI to latch together autonomously in orbit, pointing toward a future of expansive space infrastructure.
Space architecture is running up against a persistent geometric constraint: rockets have finite cargo holds, yet human ambitions for orbital real estate continue to grow. Constructing the International Space Station required dozens of dedicated missions starting in the late 1990s, relying on robotic arms and spacewalking astronauts to assemble components piece by piece. Today, developers are exploring hardware that bypasses manual assembly entirely by deploying compact components that expand or snap together on their own.
Among those concepts is TESSERAE, an acronym for Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments. Invented by Ariel Ekblaw during her doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the tiles stack flat inside a launch vehicle before releasing in weightlessness to form predetermined configurations.
They can self-assemble into something way bigger than the size of the rocket that they came up in.
Ariel Ekblaw, founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute
That capability could eventually enable the construction of science-fiction-worthy, big, grand structures
in orbit, according to Ekblaw, who now leads the Aurelia Institute, a nonprofit space architecture research and development laboratory that has continued refining the technology.
Orbital Testing History and the Upcoming Winter ISS Demonstration
The TESSERAE project has undergone preliminary validation through small-scale experiments aboard the International Space Station in 2020 and 2022, utilizing tiles measuring only a few inches across.
The next phase is scheduled for December or January. Researchers will test newly designed tiles outfitted with edge-mounted cameras that allow the units to visually track one another during the autonomous assembly process. If the trial succeeds, the tiles will latch into a ball-shaped configuration for the first time, roughly the size of a large beach ball.
These modular tiles employ electro-permanent magnets alongside camera systems and onboard computing to coordinate their physical connections. Once a structure locks into its designated shape, it can theoretically be pressurized to support human habitation.
Rendezvous Robotics Funding and the 2028 Commercial Demonstration
Commercialization of the technology is moving out of the laboratory and into the private sector through Rendezvous Robotics, a spin-off venture launched by the Aurelia Institute. On October 28, the company announced that it had raised $20 million in funding to bring the system to market.
The hardware currently under development by the spin-off scales up the individual components, producing tiles measuring one to three feet wide and switching to electromagnetic configurations. The firm has mapped out a timeline leading to a significant orbital demonstration.
Rendezvous Robotics plans to do its first demo in 2028, operating outside the space station in the extreme environment of low Earth orbit. That demonstration will test several larger tiles as they autonomously assemble into a flat plane.
Broader Industry Push Toward Adaptable Space Infrastructure
The push for self-assembling hardware arrives amid a broader commercial rush to rethink orbital construction. Traditional expandable modules have already broken ground in space, highlighted by Bigelow Aerospace sending an inflatable structure to the ISS in 2016 that was expanded via 25 short bursts of air over a seven-hour window.
More recently, Sierra Space has tested its own three-story inflatable habitat, while Max Space unveiled expandable modules earlier this year under a strategic partnership with Voyager Technologies.
We need real estate that is scalable and built for how humans will actually live and operate off Earth.
Saleem Miyan, co-founder and CEO of Max Space, via Space.com
For architectural researchers like Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger, an architect and space researcher at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria, adaptable systems offer distinct advantages over rigid, single-purpose modules.
You could absolutely pop tiles off and pop new tiles on and reconfigure them.
Ariel Ekblaw, founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute
Häuplik-Meusburger noted that reconfigurable structures could allow operators to repurpose built environments over decades of use, adapting a single framework for entirely different functions twenty years down the line.
While human habitats remain a long-term goal, near-term commercial applications are likely to focus on industrial scale. Ekblaw points to telecommunications antennas, solar arrays, and potential support for future artificial intelligence data center deployments in orbit as the most realistic initial deployment vectors for large-scale orbital infrastructure.
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