MISSION

As we prepare society for our space-faring phase, we must build new tools and infrastructure across Earth & Space.

It’s time to leverage the technologies revolutionizing human life, from deep tech like generative AI to climate change intervention techniques to synthetic biology in microgravity and more, and invest in companies that bring these tools to planet-scale for the benefit of life on Earth.

Aurelia Foundry Fund invests in foundational space tech & Earth tech that can empower humanity wherever we may find ourselves in the coming decades: on Earth in challenging climates, in-orbit around our planet, or beyond.

CORE INVESTMENT AREAS

    • Self-assembling robotics company, with multi- functional applications for large addressable market: reconfigurable satellites, parabolic mirrors for earth and space-observing, and habitats; documented interest by several gov customers; already flight-proven.

      *ISRU: In-Situ Resource Utilization (e.g., lunar mining); OSAM: On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing

    • Unique use of the microgravity environment in orbit to produce novel health products that cannot be made on the ground; must serve large populations on Earth, such as artificial retinas for macular degeneration or new drug discovery for biologics.

    • Novel approaches for resilient GPS in Low Earth Orbit, upgrading critical national security and day-to-day infrastructure for life on Earth, with significantly improved accuracy for mobile, edge computing and self-driving cars; space situational awareness data product companies, tracking space debris in orbit; new hardware to revolutionize the smallsat business, from laser comm to avionics.

    • Incubating bio-regenerative life support systems, with key technologies for cross-over Earth and space environment (e.g., aggressively energy efficient thermal systems and direct air carbon capture for scrubbing CO2); targeting both space habitats and Earth construction industry; space-based solar power holistic proposals and component companies.

AURELIA FOUNDRY ECOSYSTEM

  • Aurelia Institute is a non-profit space architecture R&D lab, education and outreach center, and policy hub dedicated to building humanity’s future in space, with a core focus on space habitat development. This new organization was spun out of Dr. Ariel Ekblaw's research lab at the MIT Space Exploration Initiative.

  • The Mit Space Exploration Initiative was founded by Dr. Ekblaw in 2016 and builds on the spirit of the MIT Media Lab, uniting artists, scientists, engineers and designers to prototype the artifacts of our Sci-Fi space future. For the MIT community and our collaborators, the Space Exploration Initiative leads space research and launch opportunities across annual zero-g flights, suborbital launches, ISS missions, and MIT's return to the Moon. The Space Exploration Initiative supports up to 40 research projects in a given year, extensive STEAM outreach, and a team of 50+ researchers.

  • Aurelia Foundry is a for-profit deep tech space fund, investing in companies that spin out of Aurelia's incubation ecosystem and in outside founders that fit our investment thesis for life in space and space infrastructure for the benefit of life on Earth.

    Together, the Aurelia Institute and Aurelia Foundry form a hybrid organization whose mission is to prepare humanity to become a thriving, Earth-conscious, spacefaring species. Our aim is to develop the infrastructure, technologies, markets, and policies that will help us scale humanity’s horizons from early space stations in LEO to the fullness of a principled interplanetary civilization. We are at a critical inflection point in the space industry where major commercial investments are being made and precedents are being set at a record pace. Aurelia is moving quickly to drive and shape rigorous, accessible space exploration with strategies for long term human flourishing, while profoundly benefitting life on Earth.

All three— Aurelia Institute, MIT SEI, and Aurelia Foundry Fund are separate legal entities with separate boards/advisory groups.