Aeronautical and astronautical engineering

Haystack’s Michael Hecht, the principal investigator for the Mars MOXIE experiment, speaks with Max G. Levy of Smithsonian about the challenges involved in developing MOXIE’s oxygen-producing technology. “We want to show we can run [MOXIE] in the daytime, and the nighttime, in the winter, and in the summer, and when it’s dusty out," says Hecht, "in all of the different environments."

Michael Hecht, MOXIE principal investigator and director of research at MIT Haystack Observatory, speaks with CNN’s Ashley Strickland about MOXIE, an apparatus that was designed to convert carbon dioxide on Mars into breathable oxygen and fuel. With MOXIE, "you don't have to take an estimated 27 metric tons of oxygen to Mars,” says Hecht.

Prof. Tanja Bosak speaks with Verge reporter Loren Grush about the significance of the Mars 2020 mission and the Perseverance rover’s quest to bring back samples of Martian material to Earth. “This is really a unique — really a once-in-a-lifetime — opportunity to get samples from a known location on Mars,” says Bosak.

Optimus Ride, a startup founded by MIT alumni, will start a self-driving car shuttle service at an industrial park in New York City, reports the Associated Press. “The free service is expected to transport some 500 passengers daily on the yard’s internal roads,” the AP explains.

MIT startup Optimus Ride is launching a self-driving shuttle service at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, reports Andrew J. Hawkins for The Verge.

Prof. Dava Newman speaks with WBUR’s Sharon Brody about the impact of the Apollo program on her own career and on humanity at large. Newman, who notes that the success of the Apollo 11 mission, “taught her to dream,” notes that, “if you're going to do the big, audacious engineering, technological, scientific breakthroughs? Well, you have to take risks.”

USA Today reporter Joshua Bote highlights Prof. Dava Newman’s work developing a skintight spacesuit called the BioSuit, which should provide astronauts greater mobility. The BioSuit includes “nucleated boron minitubes spun into thread and sewn into these stretchy suits – effectively protecting the human body from space radiation,” writes Bote.

Prof. Jeff Hoffman speaks with Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn about the importance of sending a woman to the moon. “When people ask when I knew I wanted to be an astronaut, I always say that like every other red-blooded boy, I was inspired by the men who flew on Apollo,” he said. “Unfortunately, the red-blooded girls didn’t have those role models.”

Writing for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell examines how the operation and implementation of the Apollo 11 flight software provides crucial lessons for driverless vehicles. “Testing, software controls, and risk analyses have the problem of embedding our imagination of what’s likely to happen,” writes Mindell.

Writing for CNN about designing a spacesuit suitable for Mars, Jackie Wattles spotlights Prof. Dava Newman’s work developing the BioSuit. “Space flight for me is about raising up all of our potential, and it's also about answering the hardest problems I can think of," says Newman. "Designing a suit for an astronaut to go to Mars is about the biggest challenge I can think of.”
 

Blue Origin unveiled plans to send a spaceship to the moon, reports Seth Borenstein for the AP. Prof. Dava Newman explained that the newly designed rocket engine is what makes Blue Origin’s attempt to reach the moon unique. “It’s for real,” said Newman.

Researchers from MIT and the European Space Agency are developing a process to evaluate how operators deploy satellites to help reduce the amount of debris in space, reports Loren Grush for The Verge. “It’s actually encouraging companies to try to beat each other in how good they behave, so they can build their brand,” explains Prof. Danielle Wood.

Fox News reporter James Rogers writes that the next International Space Station refueling flight will include an organ-on-a-chip device developed by MIT researchers. “The MIT-developed chip will be used to study the ability of bone and cartilage to recover after damage,” Rogers explains.

Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane writes about how TESS has discovered an Earth-sized planet orbiting a star 52 light years from Earth. “The new planet HD, 21749c, orbits the star HD 21749. It circles the star in 7.8 days,” Finucane explains. “The planet is probably rocky and uninhabitable, with temperatures on the surface of up to 800 degrees.”

Forbes contributor Jamie Carter writes that TESS has identified an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 52 light years from Earth. The planet "takes about eight days to orbit the host star and is similar in size to Earth at 89% its diameter,” writes Carter. “A likely rocky world, it's thought to have surface temperatures as high as 800°F /427°C.”