MISSION CONTROL TO HUMANS
Lunar Mission Control Station, Inploration, MIT Space Exploration Initiative, MIT Architecture, rendered by Mateo Fernandez, 2025
Hello, hello, is anyone out there?
Since humans started exploring space in the 1960’s the design of mission control has stayed the same, until now. An artistic collaboration between Inploration and MIT is re-imagining how we connect with the cosmos through a revolutionary Lunar Mission Control installation that transforms space science into a visceral experience.
Co-founded by Richelle Ellis and Lawrence Azerrad, Inploration bridges art, science, and consciousness.
"Space has always been a catalyst for imagining what's possible. Through art and design, we can transform how humanity connects with the cosmos, making these profound concepts personally meaningful and deeply moving."
Lawrence Azerrad, Grammy award-winning creative director
The Lunar Mission Control Station tracks creative payloads off-world, enabling us all to have a direct line to space!
"When we explore space through an artistic lens, we discover new ways of understanding ourselves and our place in the universe. This installation creates a space where science and creativity converge to spark deeper awareness within and beyond.”
Richelle Ellis, expeditionary artist whose work orbits Earth on satellites and has landed on the Moon.
Lunar Mission Control Station, Inploration, MIT Space Exploration Initiative, MIT Architecture, rendered by Mateo Fernandez, 2025
The pioneering collaboration between Inploration and the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) launched on February 26, 2025. Designed by MIT architects and constructed using foamed glass and basalt, the dome-like structure enables visitors to witness live lunar operations while engaging with artistic projections.
The installation will track MIT’s three lunar payloads, including the AstroAnt biomimetic robot, a 3D LiDAR camera capturing never-before-seen Moon surface data, and HUMANS, an art-meets-nanotech project.
This initiative establishes a new model for collaboration, where art and technology converge to make space exploration more accessible and personally meaningful.
“I always believed that space exploration is just like exploring oneself because in the end, we come from the universe, we are part of the universe.
And I believe that deep down in everyone of us, there lies or there hides, this ancient memory that enables us to communicate with the universe.”
Cai Guo-Qiang, contemporary artist
Richelle Ellis is featured in FUTURO VOL I
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