Ariel Ekblaw

Ariel Ekblaw comes from a family of explorers. Her great-grandfather traveled the Arctic, and both of her parents were U.S. Air Force pilots, her mother one of the first women in the role. Ekblaw has her eye on the next frontier of exploration: space. She wants to ensure that all of humanity participates as we push beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

She founded MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative, which prototypes the future for humans in space, and served as a member of NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Executive Committee, guiding burgeoning activity on the moon. In 2021, Ekblaw founded Aurelia Institute, a non-profit R&D lab, education center, and research organization working to reshape perceptions of space as a domain apart from and exclusive of life on Earth. From building and testing new human-friendly technologies, to taking diverse groups of people on zero-gravity flights, to investing in new space start-ups through the Aurelia Foundry Fund, Ekblaw and her team are creating an inclusive, sustainable future where space is for all.