Recent News

“Father of GPS” honored with three colleagues for creating the first truly global, satellite-based positioning system.

Carbon nanotube film produces aerospace-grade composites with no need for huge ovens or autoclaves.

The AeroAstro major’s childhood love of airplanes and space travel has led to lofty career ambitions.

The Space Exploration Initiative’s latest research flight explores work and play in microgravity.

Prof. Wesley Harris was cited for his research advances in aerodynamics, shock wave structure and blood flow modeling, and leadership in developing government strategic programs and policy in aerospace engineering.

PhD student George Lordos and his brother Alexandros led the project; goal of the Mars Society competition was to establish a colony on Mars for 1,000 residents.

Plans for lunar missions had been in the works for years even before John F. Kennedy committed the nation to “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth” in May 1961. One of the main questions was just how to do it with the technology available.

In the not too distant future, robots may be dispatched as last-mile delivery vehicles to drop your takeout order, package, or meal-kit subscription at your doorstep — if they can find the door.

If you want to make the long voyage to Mars, you first have to train and rehearse, and MIT alumnus Barret Schlegelmilch SM ’18, MBA ’18 is doing just that. He recently commanded a 45-day practice mission living and working with three other would-be astronauts in a cramped simulated spaceship.

Fifty years after the first moon landing with Apollo 11, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics looks to the future of space exploration at MIT.