Aeronautical and astronautical engineering

Boston Magazine reporter Steve Annear writes about how MIT engineers have published a new study showing that the Mars One colonization plans are not feasible without the development of additional technology. 

New Scientist reporter Paul Marks examines new findings from a team of MIT researchers who have assessed the Mars One colonization plans. The researchers found that “if crop growth provides 100 per cent of the settlement's food, the system will produce unsafe oxygen levels in the habitat," says graduate student Sydney Do.

The Guardian reports on the new study from a team of MIT engineers examining the Mars One colonization plans. The team found that plans to grow crops in the settlers’ habitat would produce unsafe levels of oxygen, creating a fire risk. 

Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn writes about how MIT engineers have analyzed the feasibility of the Mars One colonization plans. "The claim they make is that no new technology is required for their mission," says graduate student Syndey Do. "Our numbers show that is not feasible."

Rafi Letzter of Popular Science writes that a team of MIT researchers has published a study debunking Mars One’s plan to establish the first human colony on Mars by 2025. The team found that “without dramatic improvements in equipment life, the space colonists, who would have no way to return to Earth, could starve to death,” writes Letzter. 

An MIT study indicates that plans for settling on Mars could put colonists in danger of starvation, reports Thor Benson for UPI. "Our habitation simulations revealed that crop growth, if large enough to provide 100% of the settlement's food, will produce unsafe oxygen levels in the habitat,” the researchers explain. 

Huffington Post reporter Thomas Tamblyn writes that a team of MIT scientists has found that the Mars One colonization plans are flawed. The researchers found that Mars colonists are unlikely to survive as the production of crops will over saturate the living environment with oxygen, Tamblyn writes. 

Melissa Malamut of Boston Magazine writes that a team of MIT researchers has developed a new scaling law to estimate the risk of blast-induced traumatic brain injury. The new method could be useful in helping the military develop more protective helmets and in diagnosing traumatic brain injury, Malamut reports. 

“MIT researchers are engineering the next generation of space-wear: a skin-tight pressurized suit fit for awesome planetary exploration,” reports The Associated Press. “The researchers have engineered active compression garments that have small, springlike coils that contract in response to heat.”

Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston about a new skin-tight spacesuit design from Professor Dava Newman’s team. “It promises to offer astronauts the same protection but a lot more mobility and comfort,” writes Subbaraman.

Professor Dava Newman’s team has designed a new lightweight, flexible suit for astronauts that provides pressurization through mechanical means rather than gas, as current spacesuits do. “The theoretical suits would be made from coils that spring back to a ‘remembered’ shape when heated,” reports Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. 

Brooks Hays of United Press International reports on the latest iteration of MIT’s skin-tight spacesuit, the BioSuit. “Ultimately, the big advantage is mobility, and a very lightweight suit for planetary exploration,” said Professor Dava Newman.

A team of MIT researchers has developed an algorithm that will help NASA crews clean up debris in space, reports Nick Stockton for Wired. The research will allow crews to clear pieces of satellites spinning so wildly that they would typically be dangerous to collect.

New Scientist reporter Paul Marks writes about how MIT researchers are developing self-guided robots to help assess the danger posed by space debris. "Aboard the ISS we are now working on cooperative debris inspection, where more than one of the robots has cameras," says Alvar Saenz-Otero. 

Writing for CNBC, Hazma Ali reports on new MIT research showing that humans prefer to receive orders from robots rather than humans. "Our findings showed that our subjects strongly preferred when the robot scheduled the work of the team,” explains graduate student Matthew Gombolay.