Aeronautical and astronautical engineering

The computer system and software that controlled the Apollo 11 spacecraft — called the Apollo Guidance Computer and designed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab team — helped push technology forward in many ways. The computer itself was the first significant use of silicon integrated circuit chips.

Behind the scenes of the Apollo mission at MIT

From making the lunar landings possible to interpreting the meaning of the moon rocks, the Institute was a vital part of history.

July 18, 2019

Robots currently attempt to identify objects in a point cloud by comparing a template object — a 3-D dot representation of an object, such as a rabbit — with a point cloud representation of the real world that may contain that object.

Spotting objects amid clutter

New approach quickly finds hidden objects in dense point clouds, for use in driverless cars or work spaces with robotic assistants.

June 19, 2019

QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2019-20

Ranked at the top for the eighth straight year, the Institute also places first in 11 of 48 disciplines.

June 18, 2019

"As an engineer and historian, I’ve been 'bilingual' my entire career,” says David Mindell, the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing; professor of aeronautics and astronautics; and co-founder and CEO of Humatics Corporation. “Dual competence is a good model for undergraduates at MIT as well."

3Q: David Mindell on his vision for human-centered robotics

Engineer and historian discusses how the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing might integrate technical and humanistic research and education.

June 18, 2019

Left to right: Professor Daniel Hastings, Aeronautics and Astronautics department head; Professor Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering; Eric Evans, director of Lincoln Laboratory; and Robert Shin, head of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance and Tactical Systems Division at Lincoln Laboratory, cut the ribbon at the unveiling of the new Beaver Works space in MIT’s...

Ribbon cutting launches auxiliary Beaver Works space

The 4,000-square-foot addition will facilitate further collaboration between MIT and Lincoln Laboratory researchers.

June 11, 2019

A new algorithm helps robots predict the paths people take in structured environments like the factory floor, which may further enable close collaboration between humans and machines.

Algorithm tells robots where nearby humans are headed

A new tool for predicting a person’s movement trajectory may help humans and robots work together in close proximity.

June 10, 2019

The MIT School of Engineering newly tenured faculty are: (first row, left to right) Amos Winter, Kerri Cahoy, Antoine Allanore, R. Scott Kemp, Juejun Hu, Emilio Baglietto, Virginia Vassilevska Williams, Aleksander Mądry, and Julie Shah. (second row, left to right) William Tisdale, Paul Blainey, Themistoklis Sapsis, Frances Ross, Sertac Karaman, Hadley Sikes, Saurabh Amin, and Daniel Sanchez.

The tenured engineers of 2019

Seventeen appointments have been made in eight departments within the School of Engineering.

June 4, 2019

MIT Professor Daniela Rus, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, kicked off an all-female lineup of speakers at TEDxMIT.

CSAIL hosts first-ever TEDxMIT

Speakers — all women — discuss everything from gravitational waves to robot nurses.

May 31, 2019

Sodium-containing compounds, such as those found in common household ingredients like detergent, baking soda, and table salt, are surprisingly effective ingredients for cooking up carbon nanotubes, new MIT study finds.

Pantry ingredients can help grow carbon nanotubes

Study finds baking soda, detergent, and table salt — all rich in sodium — are effective catalysts.

May 28, 2019

To bring more human-like reasoning to autonomous vehicle navigation, MIT researchers have created a system that enables driverless cars to check a simple map and use visual data to follow routes in new, complex environments.

Bringing human-like reasoning to driverless car navigation

Autonomous control system “learns” to use simple maps and image data to navigate new, complex routes.

May 22, 2019

MIT team that designed BEAVER (Biosphere Engineered Architecture for Viable Extraterrestrial Residence), a proposed Martian greenhouse that could provide 100 percent of the food required by four astronauts for up to two years

MIT team places second in 2019 NASA BIG Idea Challenge

Multilevel Mars greenhouse could provide food to sustain astronauts for several years.

May 20, 2019

Acoustic wells chief operating officer Charles-Henri Clerget (sixth from left), chief executive officer Sebastien Mannai SM ’14 PhD ’18 (sixth from right), and chief technology officer Louis Creteur (fifth from right) pose with judges and organizers after winning Wednesday’s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.

Solution for remotely monitoring oil wells wins MIT $100K

MIT startup Acoustic Wells earned the grand prize at the annual entrepreneurship competition.

May 17, 2019

Conceptual image of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon, the proposed robotic space cargo carrier and lander for making cargo deliveries to the Moon

MIT, Blue Origin to cooperate on sending research experiment to the moon

MIT community input will help determine the focus of the study to be carried aboard Blue Moon lander.

May 10, 2019

In orbit around Earth today there are over 20,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters. Of these, only about 2000 are operational satellites. The remainder are space debris that create a hazard for the useful satellites that provide our global weather, navigation, and communication services.

A sustainability rating for space debris

Teams from the MIT Media Lab, European Space Agency, and World Economic Forum will create a rating system and global standards for space waste mitigation.

May 6, 2019

School of Engineering first quarter 2019 awards

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

May 3, 2019

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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