Richard Binzel: Eyes on the skies and a passion for planetary science
Over more than three decades at MIT, Binzel developed key insights into the solar system and played a role in multiple NASA missions.
A “hot Jupiter’s” dark side is revealed in detail for first time
The planet’s night side likely hosts iron clouds, titanium rain, and winds that dwarf Earth’s jetstream.
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.
TESS Science Office at MIT hits milestone of 5,000 exoplanet candidates
Catalog of planet candidates nearly doubles in size during 2020-21.
Richard Cohen: Pioneering biomedical research and education at MIT for half a century
The physician, scientist, and professor has made influential contributions to the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology since it began 50 years ago.
MIT engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover
A levitating vehicle might someday explore the moon, asteroids, and other airless planetary surfaces.
Super-bright stellar explosion is likely a dying star giving birth to a black hole or neutron star
The discovery, based on an unusual event dubbed “the Cow,” may offer astronomers a new way to spot infant compact objects.
“Newer, nimbler, faster:” Venus probe will search for signs of life in clouds of sulfuric acid
Report led by MIT scientists details a suite of privately-funded missions to hunt for life on Earth's sibling planet.
NASA selects three MIT alumni for astronaut training
Marcos Berríos ’06, Christina Birch PhD ’15, and Christopher Williams PhD ’12 make up a third of the 2021 NASA astronaut candidate class.
TESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury
The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date.
One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long
A newly discovered “ultrahot Jupiter” has the shortest orbit of any known gas giant.
Neutron star collisions are a “goldmine” of heavy elements, study finds
Mergers between two neutron stars have produced more heavy elements in last 2.5 billion years than mergers between neutron stars and black holes.
Q&A: Lucy mission launches to study ancient Trojan asteroids
Co-Investigator Scientist Professor Richard Binzel discusses NASA’s latest interplanetary mission, which is co-led by Cathy Olkin ’88, PhD ’96.
Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions
The cosmic boundary, perhaps caused by a young Jupiter or an emerging wind, likely shaped the composition of infant planets.
Rover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake
The findings include signs of flash flooding that carried huge boulders downstream into the lakebed.