The 2024 MIT Portugal Ideas to Impact conference took place in Coimbra, Portugal on Friday, November 8 – a yearly opportunity for research interaction between researchers from Portugal and MIT researchers to showcase their collaborations and the impact they have had on the international research community. The event featured a significant presence from AeroAstro, with faculty and alumni contributing to discussions on aerospace and sustainability initiatives.
Cadence Payne PhD ‘24, now with the Aerospace Corporation, gave a keynote address on the current status of Portugal’s first nanosatellite mission, AEROS MH-1, as well as lessons learned from the project’s first eight months on orbit.
AeroAstro’s Prof. Carmen Guerra-Garcia and Prof. Vasco Guerra, of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, also gave a presentation during the conference’s “Innovation Frontiers: Projects Shaping the Future” session. They presented on “Plasma-Assisted CO2 Recycling: Addressing Climate Change on Earth and Enabling Life on Mars,” a project they’ve been working on since 2021.
Professor John Hansman, co-director of the MIT Portugal Program, delivered a keynote to close out the program.
