NASA

MIT engineers have now developed an algorithm that lets autonomous underwater vehicles weigh the risks and potential rewards of exploring an unknown region.

Engineers program marine robots to take calculated risks

Algorithm could help autonomous underwater vehicles explore risky but scientifically-rewarding environments.

January 30, 2019

This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles (24 km). The image was obtained at a 50 degree phase angle between the spacecraft, asteroid, and the sun.

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.

January 29, 2019

The first color image of Ultima Thule, taken at a distance of 85,000 miles (137,000 kilometers) at 4:08 Universal Time on Jan. 1, 2019, highlights its reddish surface. The left image was taken by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager. At right, color has been overlaid onto the LORRI image.

3Q: On the significance of Ultima Thule

New Horizons Mission Team members Alissa Earle and Richard Binzel discuss the revelations the icy world provides about the formation of our solar system.

January 23, 2019

Robert Simcoe will assume his post as director of MIT Kavli Institute on Jan. 16.

Robert Simcoe named director of MIT Kavli Institute

An expert in instrumentation and early universe observations, Simcoe succeeds Jacqueline Hewitt as head of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

January 10, 2019

X-ray echoes, mapped by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), revealed changes to the accretion disk and corona of black hole MAXI J1820+070.

Astronomers observe evolution of a black hole as it wolfs down stellar material

Halo of highly energized electrons around the black hole contracts dramatically during feeding frenzy.

January 9, 2019

NASA’s TESS mission, which will survey the entire sky over the next two years, has already discovered three new exoplanets around nearby stars.

TESS discovers its third new planet, with longest orbit yet

Measurements indicate a dense, gaseous, “sub-Neptune” world, three times the size of Earth.

January 7, 2019

In the coming decades, massive segmented space telescopes may be launched to peer even closer in on far-out exoplanets and their atmospheres. To keep these mega-scopes stable, MIT researchers say that small satellites can follow along, and act as “guide stars,” by pointing a laser back at a telescope to calibrate the system, to produce better, more accurate images of distant worlds.

Tiny satellites could be “guide stars” for huge next-generation telescopes

Researchers design CubeSats with lasers to provide steady reference light for telescopes investigating distant planets.

January 4, 2019

A new laser-pointing platform developed at MIT may help launch miniature satellites called CubeSats into the high-rate data game.

Laser-pointing system could help tiny satellites transmit data to Earth

Platform offers the precision that shoebox-sized CubeSats need to beam down hefty data packets.

December 14, 2018

MIT professors Raffaele Ferrari and John Marshall, along with colleagues from Caltech, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, and the Naval Postgraduate School, envision a revolution in climate modeling using data assimilation and machine learning.

New climate model to be built from the ground up

Scientists and engineers will collaborate in a new Climate Modeling Alliance to advance climate modeling and prediction.

December 12, 2018

NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes are both now located beyond the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the sun. Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause, or the edge of the heliosphere, in August 2012. Heading in a different direction, Voyager 2 crossed another part of the heliopause in November 2018.

3 Questions: MIT goes interstellar with Voyager 2

MIT Kavli's John Richardson describes MIT's role in the historic passing of the Voyager 2 craft past the heliopause and into the interstellar medium.

December 10, 2018

A tiny terahertz laser designed by MIT researchers is the first to reach three key performance goals at once: high power, tight beam, and broad frequency tuning.

Terahertz laser for sensing and imaging outperforms its predecessors

High-power, tunable design could be used for chemical detection in outer space, medical imaging, more.

December 10, 2018

MIT Kavli Institute director Jacqueline Hewitt stands with a prototype of one of the four cameras aboard the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS) instrument. Hewitt, who has overseen the TESS mission from NASA proposal to satellite launch in April, will step down as Kavli Institute director in January.

Jacqueline Hewitt to step down as director of the MIT Kavli Institute

Physics professor brought leadership, resources, and an intellectual focus to the MIT astrophysics faculty and research staff during 15 years at the helm.

November 29, 2018

On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. In the Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates. (This image combines information from two instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissanc...

Mars 2020 landing site offers unique opportunities

EAPS professors Summons, Bosak, and Weiss provide insight on how the Jezero Crater can advance the study of Martian history and the search for ancient life.

November 28, 2018

MIT researchers describe an autonomous system for a fleet of drones to collaboratively search under dense forest canopies using only onboard computation and wireless communication — no GPS required.

Fleets of drones could aid searches for lost hikers

System allows drones to cooperatively explore terrain under thick forest canopies where GPS signals are unreliable.

November 1, 2018

John Grotzinger's research focuses on chemical and physical interactions between life and the environment on Earth and Mars.

Addressing the possibility of life on Mars

Mars expert John Grotzinger tells the story of exploration and the search for ancient life on the red planet at the annual Carlson Lecture.

October 31, 2018

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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