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Space exploration

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I expected to feel lonely during my six months in space, but it was quite the opposite. Having a daily sense of purpose, countless tasks and experiments to perform, and communication with people all over the world provided so much engagement with the world that loneliness was not a factor. There are some lessons here, perhaps, for everyone who now has to stay at home during this crisis. — Greg C...

A message from MIT astronauts: Accept the mission and find your motivators

To help us navigate this time of social distancing, three MIT astronauts share lessons of isolated living aboard the International Space Station.

March 24, 2020

"In Event of Moon Disaster" reimagines the story of the first moon landing as if the Apollo 11 astronauts had not been able to return to Earth. It was created to highlight the concern about computer-based misinformation, or "deepfakes."

MIT art installation aims to empower a more discerning public

With “In Event of Moon Disaster,” the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality aims to educate the public on deepfakes with an alternative history of the moon landing.

November 25, 2019

Shades of Mars: synthetic samples that mimic different regions of our neighboring world. Used to validate life detection protocols, they were synthesized by Angel Mojarro for the SETG team.

How to detect life on Mars

Scientists from the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes instrument team develop method to detect the tiniest traces of life on other planetary bodies.

June 17, 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

Danielle Wood spoke at the Media Lab’s space event, Beyond the Cradle, in March. She will join the faculty full-time in January 2018.

Danielle Wood joins Media Lab faculty

MIT alumna is establishing a new research group aimed at harnessing space engineering to improve life on Earth.

August 28, 2017

Engineers test one of the TESS cameras at the Kavli Institute lab.

TESS mission to discover new planets moves toward launch

Satellite’s cameras have been delivered by MIT researchers and passed NASA inspection.

August 4, 2017

The Managed, Reconfigurable, In-space Nodal Assembly (MARINA), developed by MIT graduate students, recently took first place at NASA's Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Design Competition Forum. MARINA is designed as a habitable commercially owned module for use in low Earth orbit that would be extensible for future use as a Mars transit vehicle.

MIT space hotel wins NASA graduate design competition

Module would serve as a commercially owned space station, featuring a luxury hotel as the primary anchor tenant and NASA as a temporary co-anchor tenant.

June 28, 2017

Astronauts and organizers of Beyond the Cradle gathered at the Media Lab on March 12. Back row, left to right: HI-SEAS IV Mars simulation participant Sheyna Gifford, NASA astronauts Jeff Hoffman and Leland Melvin, and PhD student Dan “Novysan” Novy. Front row, left to right: NASA astronaut Cady Coleman '83, PhD student Ariel Ekblaw, Media Lab Director Joi Ito.

Media Lab sets sights on space

MIT Media Lab event, Beyond the Cradle, launches a new initiative to explore the final frontier.

March 14, 2017

Minifigures of five NASA pioneers — from left to right, Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, and Mae Jemison — will appear in an official LEGO set originally designed by MIT staff member Maia Weinstock.

Women of NASA LEGO set blasts off

MIT staffer’s creation celebrating the history of women in the U.S. space program selected to become official LEGO set.

March 2, 2017

MIT grad student Joy Buolamwini (left) meets author Margot Lee Shetterly at an MIT screening of "Hidden Figures."

Joy Buolamwini wins national contest for her work fighting bias in machine learning

Media Lab graduate student selected from over 7,300 entrants, awarded $50,000 scholarship in contest inspired by the film "Hidden Figures."

January 17, 2017

“One thing you realize working in this lab is that we are really far away from the robot apocalypse,” says MIT senior Sarah Hensley, who is working with a team of researchers to prepare Valkyrie, a humanoid robot, for future space missions.

Prepping a robot for its journey to Mars

Senior Sarah Hensley aims to improve Earth's most advanced humanoid robot, in advance of its trip to the Red Planet.

October 18, 2016

MIT grad student Sydney Do peers from the front window of NASA’s drivable Mars rover prototype at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Getting real — on Mars

Sydney Do, a PhD student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is adding authenticity to a virtual Mars experience.

January 26, 2016

NASA's "Valkyrie" robot is 6 feet tall and weighs 290 pounds. Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory will test and develop the bot for future space missions.

NASA gives MIT a humanoid robot to develop software for future space missions

Team led by Professor Russ Tedrake of CSAIL to develop algorithms for 6-foot-tall “Valkyrie” robot to travel to Mars and beyond.

November 17, 2015

Mars habitat designed by MIT faculty and students

Interplanetary architecture

Faculty and students grapple with 3-D printing a habitable structure on Mars.

October 15, 2015

Cartoon illustration showing two paths to Mars, one with a stop at the moon and another direct to Mars

To save on weight, a detour to the moon is the best route to Mars

For a piloted mission to Mars, fueling up on the moon could streamline cargo by 68 percent.

October 14, 2015