Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that researchers have found evidence that the moon’s basin was formed by magma flows. "For anyone who's ever looked up at the moon and wondered why it has this pattern on its surface — now we have an answer,” says MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber.
“MIT researchers are engineering the next generation of space-wear: a skin-tight pressurized suit fit for awesome planetary exploration,” reports The Associated Press. “The researchers have engineered active compression garments that have small, springlike coils that contract in response to heat.”
Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston about a new skin-tight spacesuit design from Professor Dava Newman’s team. “It promises to offer astronauts the same protection but a lot more mobility and comfort,” writes Subbaraman.
Professor Dava Newman’s team has designed a new lightweight, flexible suit for astronauts that provides pressurization through mechanical means rather than gas, as current spacesuits do. “The theoretical suits would be made from coils that spring back to a ‘remembered’ shape when heated,” reports Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post.
Brooks Hays of United Press International reports on the latest iteration of MIT’s skin-tight spacesuit, the BioSuit. “Ultimately, the big advantage is mobility, and a very lightweight suit for planetary exploration,” said Professor Dava Newman.
New Scientist reporter Paul Marks writes about how MIT researchers are developing self-guided robots to help assess the danger posed by space debris. "Aboard the ISS we are now working on cooperative debris inspection, where more than one of the robots has cameras," says Alvar Saenz-Otero.
In an interview with Scientific American, Dr. Michael Hecht of MIT’s Haystack Observatory discusses the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the world’s most powerful radio telescope. Hecht oversees the ALMA Phasing Project and explained that the Haystack Observatory will play a central role in processing the data gathered by ALMA.
In an interview with The Guardian, Professor Sara Seager speaks about the search for extra-terrestrial life. "Our own galaxy has 100bn stars and our universe has upwards of 100bn galaxies – making the chance for life elsewhere seem inevitable based on sheer probability," explains Seager.
Huffington Post reporter Sara Gates highlights new research that shows tidal and rotational forces have cause the moon to be shaped like a lemon. Gates explains that MIT researchers, “created a topographical model that sealed many of the moon's crevices in order to paint a more complete picture of what the moon looked like billions of years ago."
"Astronomers think it is very likely that every single star in our Milky Way galaxy has at least one planet," said Professor Sara Seager at a NASA panel on the possibility of life on other planets, writes Sara Gates for The Huffington Post.
"We believe we're very, very close in terms of technology and science to actually finding the other Earth and our chance to find signs of life on another world," said Professor Sara Seager during a NASA panel on the search for extraterrestrial life, reports Suzanne Presto of CNN.
Wired reporter Klint Finley writes about how a team of MIT and NASA researchers broke the networking speed record from the earth to the moon. “The technology could soon send scientific research data between earth and the moon far more quickly,” Finley explains.
“Researchers at NASA and MIT have figured out how to beam wireless connectivity from a ground base in New Mexico to the moon using telescopes and lasers,” writes Timothy McGrath in a piece posted on Salon.
TIME reporter Bijan Stephen writes about how researchers from MIT and NASA have been testing the effectiveness of using lasers to transmit information to and from the moon.
“The prize for astrophysics goes to Alan Guth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Andrei Linde of Stanford University, and Alexei Starobinsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow,” writes Malcolm Ritter for The Associated Press about this year’s Kavli recipients.