Aeronautical and astronautical engineering

Ariel Ekblaw, principal investigator for the “To the Moon to Stay” mission and a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, speaks with Chaiel Schaffel of WBZ News Radio about the three payloads MIT engineers built for a recent mission to the moon. Of the AstroAnt rover that Ekblaw and her team developed for spacecraft assembly and external servicing, she explains: "What we want to do in the future is send hundreds or thousands that will crawl on the outside of space stations, maybe crawl on the outside of a lunar habitat, and do the inspections that would be really risky for humans to do."

Researchers at MIT have sent three payloads into space, including the AstroAnt, a small robotic device developed to help monitor spaceship conditions, reports Kenneth Chang for The New York Times. The AstroAnt rover is about the size of a “Hot Wheels” toy car and can measure a lunar rover’s temperature and communicate via a wireless Bluetooth connection. “MIT researchers envision that swarms of AstroAnts could be used to perform various tasks in space,” Chang explains. 

Orlando Sentinel reporter Richard Tribou spotlights the AstroAnt, a small robotic device developed by MIT researchers to monitor spaceship conditions during lunar missions. The device can wheel around the roof of a lunar rover “to take temperature readings and monitor its operation.”  

MIT researchers developed a small robotic rover called the AstroAnt and a depth-mapping camera for use in monitoring spaceship conditions during space missions, reports Richard Luscombe for The Guardian. The AstroAnt is designed to “eventually assist in diagnostic and repair tasks for spacecraft during lunar missions,” explains Luscombe.

Prof. Sara Seager, postdoctoral fellow Iaroslav Iakubivskyi and Claire Isabel Webb PhD '20 have designed Phainoterra, an imaginary planet “with a habitable sulfuric acid-based biochemistry” using “extensive scientific research and cross-checking against known physical precepts,” reports Leslie Katz for Forbes. The creation of Phainoterra is a part of “Proxima Kosmos, a new project that unites scientists, including one from NASA, with designers and sci-fi writers to create a speculative solar system consistent with the laws of astronomy and physics.” 

Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray spotlights how MIT researchers developed a thumb-sized rover and a depth-mapping camera, technologies that will be used on a mission to the south pole of the Moon. The mini rover, dubbed AstroAnt, could one day be used to “patrol the exteriors of lunar probes, satellites, or space stations. Some might use cameras to spot meteorite damage, while others could apply sealants to prevent air or fuel leaks.”

USA Today reporter Eric Lagatta spotlights how MIT engineers and scientists are sending three payloads into space, on a course set for the Moon’s south polar region. The payload includes a mini, thumb-sized rover dubbed “AstroAnt” that the MIT researchers designed to help monitor the larger space vehicle. “AstroAnt is designed to inspect external surfaces of spacecraft, and will also collect thermal data and measurements while the rover explores,” writes Lagatta. 

Tye Brady SM '99 speaks with Fortune reporter John Kell about his career in robotic development and the role of generative AI in future advancements. “We’re using generative AI in just about everything that we’re doing inside of robotics,” says Brady. 

MIT engineers have developed a new training method to help ensure the safe operation of multiagent systems, including robots, search-and-rescue drones and self-driving cars, reports Jijo Malayil for Interesting Engineering. The new approach “doesn’t focus on rigid paths but rather enables agents to continuously map their safety margins—the boundaries within which they must stay,” writes Malayil. 

Forbes reporter Nina Bambysheva spotlights Michael Saylor '87 and his professional career after co-founding MicroStrategy and his company’s approach to investing in Bitcoin. “We adopted bitcoin out of frustration and desperation, and then it became an opportunity, and then it became a strategy, and then it became an identity, and then it became a mission,” says Saylor. 

Prof. John Hansman speaks with Boston Herald reporter Rock Sobey about airline safety after the recent plane and helicopter collision in Washington D.C. “We have an incredibly safe system with very good procedures and good training, but there’s always the small chance that something happens — that someone gets distracted,” says Hansman. “When we have an incident like this, it can be stunning, but I wouldn’t overreact to it. I don’t think it’s an indication of a major problem with the system and air traffic control.”

In a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe, Vice President for Research Ian Waitz addresses the importance of research staff at the Institute, noting that “research universities educate through research.” Waitz emphasizes: “At MIT, there has been double-digit real growth in our on-campus research enterprise over the past 11 years along with growth in our graduate student body. With that come more people, and while these staff may not be directly involved in student classroom instruction, the research they conduct is crucial to the hands-on education that MIT students receive and to the real-world solutions that originate at the school.”

Alumnus Andrew Clare has been named CEO of Elory Air, an aircraft company that has developed an “autonomous and hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft,” reports Ed Garsten for Forbes.  “My big goal on the technical side for the company is flight envelope expansion as well as autonomous capability expansion of our full-scale aircraft,” Clare explains. “You will see in the coming months that we will start to do full mission envelope work with our full-scale aircraft.”

In an interview with NPR’s “Short Wave” host Emily Kwong, Prof. Mark Drela attempts to ease flight anxiety by explaining the science behind flying. “Airplanes are designed to withstand very, very extreme turbulence,” says Drela. “Even the most violent imaginable turbulence that you’ve ever felt, the airplane can withstand loads maybe three times bigger…There is a very big safety margin on how aircrafts are built.”

Forbes reporter Bruce Dorminey spotlights Donald Douglas, a graduate of the class of 1914. “Douglas christened his company, Douglas Aircraft and built his first planes under contract with the U.S. Navy,” explains Dorminey. “The early most successful model was known as the Douglas Torpedo 2, a single engine seaplane. But the DT2 had to be heavily modified to make it suitable for a trip around the world. Douglas increased the DT2 biplane’s range from 275 miles to over 2000 miles.”