Planetary science

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

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

An MIT study proposes that laser technology on Earth could emit a beacon strong enough to attract attention from as far as 20,000 light years away.

E.T., we’re home

Existing laser technology could be fashioned into Earth’s “porch light” to attract alien astronomers, study finds.

November 4, 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

Fusion, and specifically the physics of plasmas, has remained Nuno Loureiro’s primary research focus through graduate school, postdoc stints, and now in his research and teaching at MIT.

Nuno Loureiro: Probing the world of plasmas

Physicist explores the behavior of the universe’s most abundant form of matter.

October 15, 2018

A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.

Software finds the best way to stick a Mars landing

Program users can tinker with landing and path planning scenarios to identify optimal landing sites for Mars rovers.

September 26, 2018

Since the 1950s, scientists have observed a surprisingly straightforward, linear relationship between the Earth’s surface temperature and its outgoing heat.

How Earth sheds heat into space

New insights into the role of water vapor may help researchers predict how the planet will respond to warming.

September 24, 2018

Bernard "Bernie" Burke was the William A.M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics Emeritus and a principal investigator at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

Professor Emeritus Bernard Burke, astrophysics pioneer, dies at 90

Former Astrophysics Division chair discovered radio noise from Jupiter and the first Einstein Ring, and developed tools to map the universe.

September 24, 2018

Sam Bowring (front) and former graduate student Seth Burgess inspect the End-Permian extinction horizon at Penglaitan.

An extinction without warning

Study finds end-Permian extinction, which wiped out most of Earth’s species, was instantaneous in geological time.

September 18, 2018

Timothy Grove, the Robert R. Shrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, explores the processes that have led to the chemical evolution of Earth and other planets and objects in our solar system.

Timothy Grove awarded AGU's Harry H. Hess Medal

American Geophysical Union honors EAPS professor's “outstanding achievements in research on the constitution and evolution of the Earth and other planets.”

September 10, 2018