Four astronauts with ties to MIT named to NASA’s Artemis team
On Dec. 9, NASA announced a group of 18 astronauts to form the newly-established Artemis team, including three alumni from the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a former research...
View ArticleSearch for axions from nearby star Betelgeuse comes up empty
The elusive axion particle is many times lighter than an electron, with properties that barely make an impression on ordinary matter. As such, the ghost-like particle is a leading contender as a...
View ArticleAstronomers detect extended dark matter halo around ancient dwarf galaxy
The Milky Way is surrounded by dozens of dwarf galaxies that are thought to be relics of the very first galaxies in the universe. Among the most primitive of these galactic fossils is Tucana II — an...
View ArticleWith Perseverance, MIT teams prepare for Mars rover landing
On Thursday, NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, is scheduled to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet following a nail-biting entry and descent sequence vividly known as the “seven minutes...
View ArticleAboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, MOXIE creates oxygen on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been marking milestones on Mars since landing on the Red Planet in February. Its latest historic accomplishment is the first creation of oxygen from carbon dioxide in the...
View ArticleProfessor Emeritus Gordon Pettengill, radio astronomy pioneer, dies at 95
Gordon Hemenway Pettengill ’48, MIT professor emeritus of planetary physics in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), former director of the MIT Center for Space Research,...
View ArticleLife in space: Preparing for an increasingly tangible reality
As a not-so-distant future that includes space tourism and people living off-planet approaches, the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative is designing and researching the activities humans will...
View ArticleRover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake
The first scientific analysis of images taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover has now confirmed that Mars’ Jezero crater — which today is a dry, wind-eroded depression — was once a quiet lake, fed...
View ArticleQ&A: Lucy mission launches to study ancient Trojan asteroids
On Saturday morning, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, beginning a 12-year, nearly 4-billion-mile mission to explore some of the oldest objects in the...
View ArticleOne year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long
The hunt for planets beyond our solar system has turned up more than 4,000 far-flung worlds, orbiting stars thousands of light years from Earth. These extrasolar planets are a veritable menagerie,...
View ArticleTESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury
Ultra-short-period planets are small, compact worlds that whip around their stars at close range, completing an orbit — and a single, scorching year — in less than 24 hours. How these planets came to...
View ArticleNASA selects three MIT alumni for astronaut training
On Monday, MIT confirmed once again its status as a popular launchpad for future astronauts. NASA announced that three MIT alumni are among its 10-member astronaut candidate class of 2021.Marcos...
View Article“Newer, nimbler, faster:” Venus probe will search for signs of life in clouds...
With multiple rovers landed and a mission set to return samples to Earth, Mars has dominated the search for life in the solar system for decades. But Venus has some fresh attention coming its way.In a...
View ArticleCould acid-neutralizing life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus’ clouds?
It’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable world than our closest planetary neighbor. With an atmosphere thick with carbon dioxide, and a surface hot enough to melt lead, Venus is a scorched and...
View ArticleMIT engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover
Aerospace engineers at MIT are testing a new concept for a hovering rover that levitates by harnessing the moon’s natural charge.Because they lack an atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such...
View ArticleOSIRIS-REx mission carrying MIT student experiment wins Space Foundation award
The Space Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for space exploration and space-inspired industries, has awarded NASA’s first-ever asteroid sample return mission, the Origins, Spectral...
View ArticleA “hot Jupiter’s” dark side is revealed in detail for first time
MIT astronomers have obtained the clearest view yet of the perpetual dark side of an exoplanet that is “tidally locked” to its star. Their observations, combined with measurements of the planet’s...
View ArticleRichard Binzel: Eyes on the skies and a passion for planetary science
Richard Binzel has long held a see-for-yourself attitude toward astronomy. It developed in 1970, when he received a Criterion RV6 telescope for his12thbirthday. It was on a cold Ohio night looking...
View ArticleLook! Up in the sky! Is it a planet? Nope, just a star
The first worlds beyond our solar system were discovered three decades ago. Since then, close to 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed in our galaxy. Astronomers have detected another 5,000 planetary...
View Article3 Questions: Ariel Ekblaw on building beautiful architecture in space
Living in space today is a cramped and utilitarian endeavor. Astronuats who arrive on the International Space Station (ISS) are prepared for a stay in tight quarters, surrounded by exposed wiring,...
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