OSIRIS-REx mission carrying MIT student experiment wins Space Foundation award
John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration honors project team’s success harvesting a sample from asteroid Bennu.
Minor planet discovered by Lincoln Laboratory named for noted Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre
International Astronomical Union grants request to name minor planet discovered by the LINEAR program in honor of the Italian senator for life for her efforts to combat intolerance.
To catch an interstellar visitor, use a solar-powered space slingshot
MIT research proposal for rendezvous missions with interstellar objects selected for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program.
How to deflect an asteroid
MIT engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid.
MIT’s REXIS and Bennu’s watery surface
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft, carrying MIT instrument, arrived at asteroid in December; now begins the science to select a sampling location.
Rebecca Masterson appointed AeroAstro principal research scientist
Mechanical engineer and instrument scientist on NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is the first female principal research scientist in the department's history.
Exploring an unusual metal asteroid
Alumna and former MIT professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton is working with MIT faculty in her role as principal investigator for NASA's upcoming Psyche mission.
Project Apophis
Space Systems Engineering students design a close-range mission to a giant asteroid that will fly by Earth in 2029.
MIT’s REXIS is bound for asteroid Bennu
Instrument will help OSIRIS-REx mission identify locations for collecting an asteroid sample.
Student-built instrument headed to asteroid and back
Created by MIT students, REXIS has been integrated onto NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
‘Rogue’ asteroids may be the norm
A new map of the solar system’s asteroids shows more diversity than previously thought.
Asteroids' close encounters with Mars
Scientists find that Mars, not Earth, shakes up some near-Earth asteroids.
3 Questions: Richard Binzel on the discovery of three large, near-Earth asteroids
The largest asteroid is 12 miles in diameter, but poses little immediate threat to Earth.
The moon’s face doesn’t tell its whole story
Researchers find that huge craters on the near side of the moon may overstate the intensity of asteroid impacts about 4.1 billion years ago.
Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid
With 20 years’ notice, paint pellets could cause an asteroid to veer off course.