With society at the cusp of interplanetary civilization, the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative takes a unique approach to humanity’s horizons. We are building, testing and flying the technologies and tools of exploration that will empower Earth citizens for this new phase of our collective existence. We unite artists, scientists, engineers and designers to prototype our Sci-Fi space future in over 50 annual research projects. The philosophy of “democratizing access to space exploration” — while bringing moonshots AND earthshots into view — courses through our work. We are building a real-life, visionary "Starfleet Academy" for this dawn of expanded human activity, opportunity and responsibility in our cosmos. This session will announce a major "open call" for the SxSW community.