CBS Boston’s Liam Martin joined students from the MIT Rocket Team as they celebrated NASA successfully landing a probe on Mars. “Just thinking that this is one step closer to humanity being able to live on Mars, it’s really exciting,” says undergraduate Dayna Erdmann.
Prof. Dava Newman highlighted the potential concrete benefits and cultural impact of successfully landing on Mars during her commentary before a Senate subcommittee, reports Meghan Bartels for Space.com. “We get humans there with all our great science, it will just lift us up,” said Newman.
A team of MIT students and postdocs has taken the top prize in the architecture category of the 2017 Mars City Design competition, reports Janussa Delzo for Newsweek. Delzo notes that the MIT team’s tree-inspired concept features “domes or tree habitats...large enough for 50 people to live inside of them."
Forbes reporter Jim Clash writes that MIT alumnus and retired astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz is developing a plasma engine that could theoretically, “cut time for manned missions to Mars to as little as 39 days versus the eight months it would take using today’s chemical rockets.”
In an article for CBS News, Tracy Staedter spotlights a panel discussion focused on the challenges of exploring and potentially colonizing Mars, which was held during the New Space Age Conference at MIT.
In this article and video, Prof. Leia Stirling speaks with Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch about her research aimed at helping astronauts avoid stumbles and falls in space. Stirling explained that she and her colleagues developed a haptic feedback system to “potentially help someone navigate their environment and avoid obstacles at the same time.”
In this video, Prof. Leia Stirling and graduate student Alison Gibson speak with Wired about the vibrating boots they developed to help astronauts avoid obstacles. “To be able to provide technologies that can assist the astronauts and actually make a group of people have more capability, that’s really exciting,” explains Stirling.
Space.com reporter Samantha Mathewson writes that MIT researchers have developed a vibrating boot to help astronauts avoid obstacles. Prof. Leia Stirling explains that she hopes the boot will make astronauts “more confident and efficient during extravehicular activities and may decrease their injury risk due to trips and falls.”
Samantha Cole writes for Popular Science that researchers from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics are developing boots that pulse and vibrate to warn the wearer of nearby obstacles. Cole explains that the researchers see the technology “as valuable not only for space walks, but for firefighters, the elderly, or those with compromised sensory systems.”
Researchers have created a gravity map of Mars that provides insight into the planet’s interior, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. MIT postdoc Antonio Genova says the map will be, “helpful for future Mars exploration, because better knowledge of the planet's gravity anomalies helps mission controllers insert spacecraft more precisely into orbit around Mars.”
MIT researchers are collaborating with NASA and Fusion to develop a virtual-reality experience that will allow users to explore Mars, reports John Gaudiosi for Fortune. Gaudiosi explains that the experience "will allow users to walk or drive the Mars Rover prototype across several square miles of actual Martian terrain while pursuing research-oriented mission goals.”
Forbes reporter Bruce Dorminey writes about a new MIT study showing that refueling at the moon would make Mars missions more efficient. Prof. Olivier de Weck explains that this strategy could “represent a savings of $5.8 billion per mission.”
Dr. Michael Hecht speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of WBUR’s Radio Boston about NASA’s discovery of water on Mars. Hecht says that the discovery “opens up a whole new avenue for using what nature gives us on Mars to help us explore.”
Graduate student Sydney Do speaks with Huffington Post Live about the technological shortfalls that currently make the Mars One plan for colonizing the Red Planet unrealistic. “Our finding is the Mars One plan is inherently unsustainable and is hence infeasible,” explains Do. “The technology that’s required is just not there yet.”
Graduate students Sydney Do and Andrew Owens will debate Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp at a convention celebrating the red planet this month, writes Steve Annear for The Boston Globe: “Do, Owens, and other MIT researchers released a paper in October questioning the Mars One mission design and practicality.”