Aeronautics and Astronautics

The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command views a shift to model-based systems engineering as an essential step in shortening and modernizing its abilities to deliver high-quality, state-of-the-art programs. Pictured here is Cmdr. Cynthia Dieterly, commanding officer of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 115 conducts pre-flight checks on an E-2C Hawkeye prior to launch from the Nimitz-class aircraft...

Transforming the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, with thanks to MIT

NAVAIR is upgrading its acquisition capabilities using an MIT online course in model-based systems engineering.

August 6, 2018

Featured video: If the spacesuit fits

PhD student Richard Fineman is using wearable sensors to understand coordination and walking — and next-generation spacesuit design.

July 31, 2018

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics head Jaime Peraire calls Rebecca Masterson “an outstanding researcher with an impressive record of accomplishment in space systems engineering and design.”

Rebecca Masterson appointed AeroAstro principal research scientist

Mechanical engineer and instrument scientist on NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is the first female principal research scientist in the department's history.

July 19, 2018

School of Engineering second quarter 2018 awards

Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter.

July 17, 2018

Nancy Hopkins (center) stands with Salvador Luria (left) and David Baltimore at the MIT Cancer Center in the 1980s.

Institute Archives spotlights pioneering women at MIT

Initiative is building collections highlighting the contributions of female faculty.

July 6, 2018

Alexa Aguilar is co-president of MIT’s Graduate Women in Aerospace Engineering (GWAE) group. “It's important to me that women have this kind of support and encouragement because I wouldn’t be here without the support of women,” she says.

Networks in aerospace

Graduate student Alexa Aguilar helps tiny satellites communicate and builds connections in her academic community.

June 22, 2018

Daniel Hastings named head of Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

A member of the MIT faculty since 1985, Hastings will succeed Jaime Peraire as AeroAstro department head.

June 20, 2018

A new computer chip, smaller than a U.S. dime and shown here with a quarter for scale, helps miniature drones navigate in flight.

Chip upgrade helps miniature drones navigate

Low-power design will allow devices as small as a honeybee to determine their location while flying.

June 20, 2018

MIT announces leadership of its Quest for Intelligence

Faculty from across the Institute tapped to lead new initiative in human and machine intelligence.

June 11, 2018

A new algorithm developed by MIT researchers helps keep data fresh within a simple communication system, such as multiple drones reporting to a single control tower.

Keeping data fresh for wireless networks

Algorithm provides networks with the most current information available while avoiding data congestion.

June 4, 2018

At the International Conference on Robotics and Automation tomorrow, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) will present a new lane-change algorithm.

Making driverless cars change lanes more like human drivers do

Algorithm computes “buffer zones” around autonomous vehicles and reassess them on the fly.

May 22, 2018

An albatross glider, designed by MIT engineers, skims the Charles River.

Albatross robot takes flight

Autonomous glider can fly like an albatross, cruise like a sailboat.

May 18, 2018

MIT engineers have developed a new virtual-reality training system for drones that enables a vehicle to “see” a rich, virtual environment while flying in an empty physical space.

Researchers develop virtual-reality testing ground for drones

With new system, drones navigate through an empty room, avoiding crashes while “seeing” a virtual world.

May 17, 2018

Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry representatives strolled along the Charles M. Vest Student Street in the Stata Center, viewing research results from 130 year-long SuperUROP projects.

Showcasing the results of students' real-world research

SuperUROP and Masterworks participants share the findings of their intensive hands-on projects.

May 15, 2018

Professor Emeritus Leon Trilling dies at 93

Aeronautical engineer and historian of technology was an esteemed humanistic thinker and advocate for equality.