How to Die in Orbit asks what it means for a built thing to know how to end.

The project is built from 3D-printed cuboctahedral modules that lock together through friction-based connectors and come apart through vibration. A single motor, no larger than the one inside a phone, sends mechanical waves through the assembled structure. When the vibration exceeds a threshold encoded in the connector's geometry, the joint releases — the modules repel each other and separate. No electronics, no sensors, no signal processing. The structure decides where and when to break based on its shape alone.

Different connectors can be tuned to different thresholds, so that a single vibration source triggers a sequenced disassembly — one module detaches, then the next, then the next. The structure doesn't just fall apart. It decomposes in an order written into its geometry.

The work responds to orbital debris and the politics of permanence. It proposes that anything sent into orbit should have its ending designed with the same care as its beginning.

Currently in prototype and ground testing. The project is being developed toward zero-gravity flight and exhibition.