Software finds the best way to stick a Mars landing
Selecting a landing site for a rover headed to Mars is a lengthy process that normally involves large committees of scientists and engineers. These committees typically spend several years weighing a...
View ArticleAddressing the possibility of life on Mars
In 2018, millions of people around the world caught glimpses of the planet Mars, discernible as a bright red dot in the summer’s night skies. Every 26 months or so, the red planet reaches a point in...
View ArticleMars 2020 landing site offers unique opportunities
In 2020, NASA’s next rover will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and head to the Jezero Crater on Mars. Jezero was once home to an ancient lake-delta system that scientists...
View ArticleMIT celebrates 50th anniversary of historic moon landing
On Sept. 12, 1962, in a speech given in Houston to pump up support for NASA’s Apollo program, President John F. Kennedy shook a stadium crowd with the now-famous quote: “We choose to go to the moon in...
View ArticleMIT team places second in 2019 NASA BIG Idea Challenge
An MIT student team took second place for its design of a multilevel greenhouse to be used on Mars in NASA’s 2019 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge last month. Each year,...
View ArticleMaria Zuber awarded the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in Planetary Sciences
The following news is adapted from a press release issued by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.The American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences...
View ArticleHow to detect life on Mars
When MIT research scientist Christopher Carr visited a green sand beach in Hawaii at the age of 9, he probably didn’t think that he’d use the little olivine crystals beneath his feet to one day search...
View ArticleScientists look to synthetic biology and 3-D printing for life support in space
As NASA gears up to send humans back to the moon or even to Mars, they'll need to figure out how to keep these humans healthy and safe, far away from the resource-abundant Earth.It won't be feasible to...
View ArticlePracticing for a voyage to Mars
If you want to make the long voyage to Mars, you first have to train and rehearse, and MIT alumnus Barret Schlegelmilch SM ’18, MBA ’18 is doing just that. He recently commanded a 45-day practice...
View ArticleInterdisciplinary team takes top prize in Mars colony design competition
Every 75 years, Halley’s Comet makes a triumphant return to the inner solar system, becoming visible to the naked eye from the Earth’s surface as it streaks across the night sky. In 1986, brothers...
View ArticleMars 2020: The search for ancient life is on
Planetary scientists believe that Mars was once warmer, had a significant atmosphere, and maintained abundant flowing water that carved out river channels and pooled in lakes. These conditions would,...
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...
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With Perseverance and a little MOXIE, MIT is going to Mars
On July 30, a two-week window of opportunity opens for Perseverance — the newest Mars rover, forged in the spirit of human curiosity — to begin its journey toward the Red Planet with a launch from the...
View ArticleField geology at a distance
Life is shaped by the environment in which it lives. When looking at an organism today, that relationship can be easily observed. But when all you’re left with is a fossil or rock, it can be tricky to...
View ArticleSpace for all is this student’s goal
The latest NASA rover, scheduled to land on Mars tomorrow after traveling more than six months in interplanetary space, is carrying with it a special instrument called MOXIE. About the size of a car...
View ArticleWith Perseverance, MIT teams prepare for Mars rover landing
On Thursday, NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, is scheduled to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet following a nail-biting entry and descent sequence vividly known as the “seven minutes...
View ArticleAboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, MOXIE creates oxygen on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been marking milestones on Mars since landing on the Red Planet in February. Its latest historic accomplishment is the first creation of oxygen from carbon dioxide in the...
View ArticleTaylor Perron receives 2021 MacArthur Fellowship
Taylor Perron, professor of geology and associate department head for education in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, has been named a recipient of a 2021 MacArthur...
View ArticleRover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake
The first scientific analysis of images taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover has now confirmed that Mars’ Jezero crater — which today is a dry, wind-eroded depression — was once a quiet lake, fed...
View ArticleMIT welcomes two from the Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship...
MIT’s School of Science welcomes postdocs Malena Rice and Eva Scheller, recipients of the 2022 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. The announcement was made March 31 by the Heising-Simons Foundation.The 51 Pegasi...
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