MIT Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics | March 2026 | | |
The Roundup is a monthly newsletter to keep the AeroAstro community up-to-date on research, community news, and important happenings across the department and MIT. Explore past issues of the Roundup on our website.
| | It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… flying scarf marionette! This month’s Maker Meeting was led by Facilities Administrator and puppet master Karen Bruce. | | Angelina Costa '29 spent some time in the machine shop this month running the large lathe, working on the working on the phenolic part of the nozzle for the Rocket Team's latest project. Photo credit: Todd Billings | | Staff are never bored on retro board game day! Everyone got to let out their inner child – and those children sure are competitive. | | |
Spot Awards: Huge shoutouts in March to Alexa Torres, Anthony Zolnik, Bryt Bradley, Corrine Giordani, Esther Allan, Fran Marrone, Gabby Hotye, Helen Halaris, Jean Sofranas, Karen Bruce, Kate Reynolds, Kathryn Fischer, Kaylie Knowlton, Kevin Slowik, MaryAnn Carey, Michael Harrison, Pam Fradkin, Robin Courchesne-Sato, and Ziara Queen-Walker. Have someone you would like to recognize? Submit a nomination any time – Spot Awards are open to everyone!
Nominate a colleague for the Infinite Mile and Ellen J. Mandingo Awards: Help the Institute recognize individuals or teams who have made extraordinary contributions to help the Institute carry out its mission by nominating a colleague for this special recognition. If you are considering nominating someone and would benefit from multiple collaborators, please reach out to aa-hr@mit.edu – we may be able to help add momentum! The deadline for nominations is April 3, 2026.
AeroAstro’s Community Awards recognize outstanding community members who help make AeroAstro extraordinary. Submit your nominations by April 17, and attend our Kudos & Coffee session on April 8. The awards ceremony will take place on May 13.
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Three – yes, three – MIT teams have been selected as finalists in the 2026 NASA RASC-AL competition! Congratulations to:
🟠 MELIORA: Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement, in the CPNT Architectures for Mars Surface Operations theme.
🌘 ECLIPSE: Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm, in the Lunar Surface Power and PMAD Architectures theme.
🍔 CHEESEBURGER: CLPS-enabled Highly-autonomous End-to-End isru-System Evaluations to Build Understanding and Resilient Growth by Experimenting with Regolith, in the Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure theme.
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The AeroAstro Comm Lab provides 1-1 peer coaching sessions for all forms of technical communication. Make an appointment to improve the effectiveness of your next paper, poster, presentation and more!
Upcoming events:
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Engineering confidence to navigate uncertainty | In 16.85 (Design and Testing of Autonomous Vehicles), AeroAstro students build software that allows autonomous flight vehicles to navigate unknown environments.
When the Sputnik 1 launch inspired the world, it set Lou Friedman ‘71 on a path that would help shape modern space exploration. Slice of MIT covered his co-founding of The Planetary Society: a nonprofit whose stated focus is “empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.”
| | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | | |
DEI Best Practice: Language Matters: Considering Microaggressions in Science, by Colin Harrison and Kimberly D. Tanner
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
April 29, 2026, marks Denim Day, a global campaign that began in response to a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court that overturned a rape conviction. In protest, women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work the following day in solidarity with the survivor. Today, Denim Day raises awareness about victim blaming and harmful myths surrounding sexual violence.
Wear denim on April 29 with purpose to stand in solidarity with survivors and help challenge misconceptions about sexual violence.
Upcoming events:
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Meeting | Tuesday, April 14 | 1pm | 33-116
- Invited Guest, Nandi Byno, Assistant Dean, Outreach and Community Engagement
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Transgender Day of Visibility | March 31 | Check out MIT LBGTQ+ services for upcoming programming
Feedback:
aa-diversity@mit.edu
| | Aerofluids, Learning, & Discovery Lab | | A better method for planning complex visual tasks | Researchers have developed a generative artificial intelligence-driven approach for planning long-term visual tasks, like robot navigation, that is about twice as effective as some existing techniques. | | | | |
