Researchers release open-source space debris model
The MIT Orbital Capacity Assessment Tool lets users model the long-term future space environment.
A carbon-lite atmosphere could be a sign of water and life on other terrestrial planets, MIT study finds
A low carbon abundance in planetary atmospheres, which the James Webb Space Telescope can detect, could be a signature of habitability.
MIT in the media: 2023 in review
MIT community members made headlines with key research advances and their efforts to tackle pressing challenges.
Philip Erickson named director of MIT Haystack Observatory
Associate director and geospace lead scientist to succeed Colin Lonsdale.
How to be an astronaut
Astronaut Woody Hoburg ’08 shares insights and advice with students in his first visit to campus since joining NASA.
Everything, everywhere all at once
Cosmologist and MLK Scholar Morgane König uses gravitational waves to study the universe’s origins, inflation, and present trajectory.
ILLUMA-T launches to the International Space Station
This laser communications terminal, developed at Lincoln Laboratory, aims to transmit data at high rates from the ISS to ground stations via NASA’s first two-way laser communications relay system.
The Beaver visits Father Sky: Meet MIT’s First Nations Launch team
MIT Doya blasted their first rocket to a height of 1,290 meters, placing second at the 2023 First Nations Launch contest. The team is now gearing up for a 2024 launch.
Bright flash leads astronomers to a heavy-metal factory 900 million light years away
Using multiple observatories, astronomers directly detect tellurium in two merging neutron stars.
With Psyche, a journey to an ancient asteroid is set to begin
The NASA mission, a project with deep roots at MIT, is setting course for a metallic space rock that could be the remnant of a planetary core like our own.
3 Questions: The first asteroid sample returned to Earth
Richard Binzel describes how asteroid dirt and dust delivered by OSIRIS-Rex, with help from MIT, may reveal clues to the solar system’s origins.
Mikhail Ivanov wins 2024 New Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Prize
MIT assistant professor of physics shares award for understanding the large-scale structure of the universe.
How to prevent biofilms in space
Microbial or fungal biofilms on spacecraft can clog hoses and filters, or make astronauts sick. Space Station tests show that a surface treatment can help.
3 Questions: A bigger, better space-ripple detector
The MIT-led Cosmic Explorer project aims to detect gravitational waves from the earliest universe.