Destination: Mars

Alumni share their journeys working on the Mars rover Curiosity

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MIT Alumni Team Up for the Mars Curiosity Project

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Rock-Solid Science

After doing fieldwork that brought her to the ocean floor, geologist Ro Kinzler ‘84, SM ‘85, PhD ‘91, takes earth science to the public.

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A Champion for Supernerds

Faster than a speeding robot, able to bend rebar with the whack of a sledgehammer, Woodie Flowers is on a mission to promote hands-on engineering education.

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TR35: James Carey

Jim Carey, co-founder of SiOnyx, explains how his company makes “black silicon” and how it could be used to make devices such as inexpensive night-vision equipment.

Looking Back, Hopping Forward

The Talaris vehicle is being tested at 50%, 65%, and 75% throttle, hovering at each level before increasing to the next thrust threshold. The test vehicle will be able to simulate the moon’s gravity by removing 5/6 of its own weight, which will help develop guidance, navigation and control algorithms for the Next Giant Leap team’s lunar hopper.

How to Land Safely Back on the Moon

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently tested the LIDAR sensors and algorithms that will translate raw data into a 3-D terrain map of the moon’s surface for future lunar-landing expeditions. This video describes the test and the technology used for autonomous landings and hazard detection.