The Museum’s Home Beyond Earth exhibit expands its orbit and invites visitors to enter a futuristic life-size space station module—the TESSERAE Space Habitat Pavilion!

This is the first public exhibition of TESSERAE.

The 20-foot-high dome pavilion is a full-scale mock-up of the TESSERAE self-assembling space habitat designed to sustain and enrich life in orbit. Created in Cambridge, Mass. by Aurelia Institute, the TESSERAE Pavilion highlights the importance of food and cooking, wayfinding and ergonomics, and human-centered design in maintaining people’s well-being in space.

“TESSERAE represents a new way of thinking about space habitat design,” said Ariel Ekblaw, CEO and Co-Founder of Aurelia Institute. “We’re moving beyond early space stations’ confined, utilitarian spaces. Our vision is to create expandable, reconfigurable habitats that can grow with the mission needs.” “We’re thrilled to have the TESSERAE Pavilion as part of our Home Beyond Earth exhibit and for our visitors to experience this groundbreaking concept at real scale,” said Geoff Nunn, the Museum’s Adjunct Curator for Space History and exhibit developer.

After you experience Home Beyond Earth, we recommend you head straight to the TESSERAE Pavilion to complete your journey!