Consider one-way Mars mission, Gavin says
The following article was originally published Feb. 10 in "What Matters," a monthly alumni opinion column on the MIT Alumni Association web site. It is reprinted here with permission. For more...
View ArticleMars work gets a lift from MIT
Louis Pasteur once said about science that "chance favors only the prepared mind." His words rang true for Professor John Grotzinger this year, when he began analyzing images of Mars rocks for...
View ArticleWhen baby planets melt
Let’s start at the beginning. Before humans, before Earth, before any of the planets existed, there were baby planets — planetesimals. Coalesced from dust exploded outward by the solar nebula, these...
View ArticleRobots serve humans on land, in sea and air
MIT's version of the "robotoddler" is just the latest MIT entry in the world of robots that can move themselves in a variety of settings. There's still a long way to go before today's robots evolve...
View ArticleSo cool: Study shows Mars in 4-billion-year freeze
The current mean temperature on the equator of Mars is a blustery -69 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists have long thought that the Red Planet was once temperate enough for water to have existed on the...
View ArticleMIT researchers visit Mars on Earth
At 75 degrees north latitude, Devon Island lies high above the Arctic Circle, a few hundred miles from the magnetic North Pole. A true polar desert, it is also the largest uninhabited island on Earth....
View ArticleIAP: Life on Mars could be human, someday
If space is the final frontier, the first step in colonizing it is a one-way trip to Mars for 12 dedicated settlers, says an MIT graduate student who works for the nonprofit Mars Homestead...
View ArticleMars group launches high-flying fundraiser
Those who cannot afford the million-dollar price tag attached to space tourism will be happy to learn that at least their names--and their logos--will be able to travel into space for a much smaller...
View ArticleMIT observations give precise estimate of Mars surface ice
An MIT-led team of planetary scientists has found that the southern pole of Mars contains the largest deposit of frozen water in the inner solar system, outside of Earth.The new results show that...
View ArticleMIT to lead ambitious lunar mission
MIT will lead a $375 million mission to map the moon's interior and reconstruct its thermal history, NASA announced this week.The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission will be led by...
View ArticleMIT, Harvard offer solution to Mars enigma
Planetary scientists have puzzled for years over an apparent contradiction on Mars. Abundant evidence points to an early warm, wet climate on the red planet, but there's no sign of the widespread...
View ArticleThe next-best thing to being on Mars
Last week, two MIT students began living, working and communicating with the outside world as if they were on a mission to Mars. Whenever they go outside their small, round habitat where eight people...
View ArticleSolar system's biggest impact scar discovered
A new analysis of the topography and gravity of Mars by researchers at MIT and NASA has solved one of the biggest remaining mysteries in the solar system -- why the planet Mars has two completely...
View ArticleProfessor Young gives Portuguese students a glimpse into future Mars missions
Hundreds of Portuguese high school students were recently given a distinct privilege: a look at what future Mars missions could look like, as described by former NASA astronaut Laurence R. Young.Young,...
View Article3Q: The next Mars rover’s destination
When the next-generation Mars rover, dubbed Curiosity, touches down on martian soil next summer, its cameras will likely capture a scene similar to what the first explorers of the Grand Canyon...
View ArticleResearchers calculate size of particles in Martian clouds of CO2 snow
In the dead of a Martian winter, clouds of snow blanket the Red Planet’s poles — but unlike our water-based snow, the particles on Mars are frozen crystals of carbon dioxide. Most of the Martian...
View ArticleSarah Stewart Johnson, EAPS PhD, gives rein to curiosity
A fling with politics turned into a life-changing career path for Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist and 2008 MIT PhD recipient. A former White House fellow working for the President’s...
View ArticleNASA-JPL director Charles Elachi talks about latest Mars mission
The car-sized Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the Red Planet last month, is the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious planetary mission in many years. But it is just one of a sweeping...
View ArticleMIT alums recount their Martian experiences
Since NASA’s Curiosity rover made its extraordinary Aug. 6 touchdown on Mars, it has been roving the Martian landscape, returning startling images. So far, the rover has revealed rust-colored canyons...
View ArticleDetecting DNA in space
If there is life on Mars, it’s not too farfetched to believe that such Martian species may share genetic roots with life on Earth. More than 3.5 billion years ago, a blitz of meteors ricocheted around...
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