On March 6, in one of the first U.S. lunar landings since the Apollo era, MIT sent three payloads—the AstroAnt, the RESOURCE 3D camera, and the HUMANS nanowafer—to the moon’s south polar region. The MIT component of the mission was based out of Luna, a control space designed by MIT Department of Architecture students and faculty in collaboration with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, Inploration, and Simpson Gumpertz and Heger.
Installed in the MIT Media Lab ground-floor gallery and opened to the public as part of Artfinity, the structure was designed as a place where visitors can observe payload operators at work and interact with the software used for the mission.
Designing the Lunar-Inspired Architecture
Constructed using Owens Corning cellular glass—a lightweight and modular material that provides an efficient and durable structure—Mission Control manifests a dual connection to the Moon: its screens deliver real-time views of the lunar surface while its very walls echo the basalt-rich terrain.
Leveraging technologies used by the MIT Architecture students and faculty for robotic production and modular design and their research in optimized structural forms, the self-supporting and fully insulated structure revisits materials that can be produced efficiently here on earth and found naturally on the moon.
The Lunar Research
MIT’s three payloads include:
The AstroAnt, inspired by science fiction concepts of biomimetic swarm robotics, is a miniature robot designed to work in swarms. During the first few days of the mission, it will traverse the surface of the Lunar Outpost rover while recording surface temperatures—critical data for assessing the rover's operational health. This innovative design explores the potential for robot swarms to perform diagnostic and repair tasks in symbiosis with spacecraft.
The 3D camera payload (derived from a Microsoft Kinect) began as part of the NASA-funded RESOURCE project, assessing analog extreme environments and how VR can assist explorers and astronauts in the field. The camera will collect the first-ever LiDAR data from the surface of the Moon, providing high-resolution 3D imagery to help scientists understand the Lunar surface, help to train future astronauts for the unique environment of the Moon’s South polar region, and bring the world with us as MIT returns to the Lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo missions.
The Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space (HUMANS) project exemplifies MIT's commitment to global representation in space, combining art and nanotechnology to create innovative, inclusive contributions to space exploration.
Space and the Arts
Through artistic projections, live mission operations, and interactive elements, the installation creates moments of wonder and understanding that transcend traditional boundaries between art and science. It offers visitors direct engagement with lunar exploration while inspiring deeper reflection on our place in the cosmos. Inploration co-founders Lawrence Azerrad and Richelle Ellis guide the creative vision, working alongside Cody Paige, architects Mateo Fernandez and Skylar Tibbits, and planetary science software engineer Don Derek Haddad. The MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and Inploration unite visionary thinking with technical innovation in this ambitious project.
Inploration transforms humanity's relationship with space through ground-breaking collaborations between artists, scientists, and innovative thinkers. By weaving together art, science, and consciousness, we create experiences that expand perspectives and deepen our connection to the cosmos. Young creators - artists, designers, and innovators who naturally blur boundaries between fields - find in Inploration a blueprint for their own explorations. Inploration is a non-profit arts and cultural initiative, operating under Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)3 non-profit arts service organization. Learn more at inploration.com.
Future Exhibits
The Mission Control design has been thoughtfully created with reusability in mind. It remains on display at the MIT Media Lab through late fall 2025, coinciding with the Media Lab's fortieth anniversary celebration. This milestone event will bring together member companies from diverse industries for celebratory activities. Plans are also in motion for additional exhibits across the United States and internationally, ensuring continued engagement and inspiration well beyond the initial mission.
Project Designer: Mateo Fernandez
Fabrication: Simon Lesina-Debiasi, Nof Nathansohn, Nebyu Haile, Jared Laucks
Faculty: John Ochsendorf,, Brandon Clifford, J. Roc Jih, Skylar Tibbits
MIT Architecture Department integrates creativity, history, politics and technology to educate students in architecture, design and urbanism. They acknowledge the racist and unsustainable aspects of the past while striving to build a more inclusive and environmentally conscious future through research, design and collaboration. The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in Architecture, Art and Design with a focus on tackling contemporary challenges.
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Project Designer: Mateo Fernandez
Fabrication Lead: Simon Lesina-Debiasi
Project Team: Nof Nathansohn, Farida Moustafa, Arzy Abliadzhyieva, Nebyu Haile, Oliver Moldow, Jared Laucks
Faculty: John Ochsendorf,, Brandon Clifford, J. Roc Jih, Skylar Tibbits
The MIT Architecture team designed and constructed Mission Control in collaboration with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). The construction of the Mission Control structure was supported by Comcast and Inploration with materials provided by Owens Corning and Bose. This project was supported under the MIT BOSE grant awarded to Skylar Tibbits and J. Roc Jih for new construction approaches for building with mono-material basalt architectures.
MIT's industry partners—including Draper, Lockheed Martin, Digital Garage, Castrol, and Comcast—along with Axiom astronaut John Shoffner provided funding for the SEI payloads, and mission operation. The event will be shared both domestically and internationally thanks to the support of Comcast.
SEI collaborated with the NASA Ames Research Center on the 3D camera payload research, supported by a Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) grant. The Responsive Environments group at the Media Lab developed the AstroAnt and the HUMANS project was led by MIT AeroAstro and the MIT Museum with support from MIT Nano.
