Satellites

To ensure the best coverage of our solar system, MIT Assistant Professor Richard Linares envisions a constellation of "statites" that communicate and work together, only activating the statite in the optimum position to fly by or rendezvous with an interstellar object successfully. Other statites in the constellation can continue to wait for the next ISO to appear.

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.

May 6, 2020

MIT researchers have devised a framework for deciding which type of mission would be most successful in deflecting an incoming asteroid, taking into account an asteroid’s mass and momentum, its proximity to a gravitational keyhole, and the amount of warning time that scientists have of an impending collision.

How to deflect an asteroid

MIT engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid.

February 18, 2020

Researchers have for the first time used a massive cluster of galaxies as a huge magnifying lens to detect a small, star-forming dwarf galaxy.

Astronomers use giant galaxy cluster as X-ray magnifying lens

New lens technique spots tiny dwarf galaxy in the first, super-energetic stages of star formation.

October 14, 2019

Worlds orbiting stars other than our sun are “exoplanets,” and they come in many sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets. This illustration of a "super-Earth" represents the type of planet that the TESS mission aims to find outside our solar system.

Computing and the search for new planets

MIT planetary scientists partner with computer scientists to find exoplanets.

September 23, 2019

The asteroid 6478 Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. The Gault asteroid is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

For first time, astronomers catch asteroid in the act of changing color

Asteroid is likely shedding reddish dust, revealing a fresh, blue surface beneath.

August 29, 2019

Artist’s rendering of the surface of LHS 3844b, a planet that has been found to have no atmosphere.

Rocky, Earth-sized exoplanet is missing an atmosphere

Study reports on search for an atmosphere around a planet somewhat similar to ours.

August 19, 2019

The Lorelei Ensemble performs in "Songs from Extrasolar Spaces: Music Inspired by TESS" on July 30 in MIT's Kresge Auditorium.

The music of the spheres

MIT hosts "Songs from Extrasolar Spaces," a musical melding of art and science inspired by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

August 9, 2019

This infographic illustrates key features of the TOI 270 system, located about 73 light-years away in the southern constellation Pictor.

TESS discovers three new planets nearby, including temperate “sub-Neptune”

Planetary system orbiting an unusually quiet star is ideal for future habitability searches.

July 29, 2019

The computer system and software that controlled the Apollo 11 spacecraft — called the Apollo Guidance Computer and designed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab team — helped push technology forward in many ways. The computer itself was the first significant use of silicon integrated circuit chips.

Behind the scenes of the Apollo mission at MIT

From making the lunar landings possible to interpreting the meaning of the moon rocks, the Institute was a vital part of history.

July 18, 2019

In orbit around Earth today there are over 20,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters. Of these, only about 2000 are operational satellites. The remainder are space debris that create a hazard for the useful satellites that provide our global weather, navigation, and communication services.

A sustainability rating for space debris

Teams from the MIT Media Lab, European Space Agency, and World Economic Forum will create a rating system and global standards for space waste mitigation.

May 6, 2019

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), shown here in a conceptual illustration, will identify exoplanets orbiting the brightest stars just outside our solar system.

TESS discovers its first Earth-sized planet

Orbiting a nearby star, the new planet is the smallest identified so far by the TESS mission.

April 16, 2019

The Apollo astronauts and engineers were joined onstage by some of MIT’s astronaut alumni, including two active astronauts, Mike Fincke and Warren Hoburg (in blue jackets).

MIT celebrates 50th anniversary of historic moon landing

Symposium featuring former astronauts and other Apollo mission luminaries examines the program’s legacy.

March 15, 2019

Danielle Wood (left) and Christine Joseph.

Microgravity research after the International Space Station

Researchers say new facilities in space should be available to scientists from any country.

March 12, 2019

EAPS Assistant Professor Brent Minchew (right) with former Vice President Al Gore in 2001.

From the Marines to MIT

Brent Minchew has flown presidents and foreign dignitaries on Marine One. Today he studies how ice sheets evolve and respond to changing climate.

February 8, 2019

A new MIT study finds that over the coming decades climate change will affect the ocean’s color, intensifying its blue regions and its green ones.

Study: Much of the surface ocean will shift in color by end of 21st century

Climate-driven changes in phytoplankton communities will intensify the blue and green regions of the world’s oceans.

February 4, 2019

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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