space

NASA is going back to the moon. Northeastern University students are designing robots to explore the terrain.

Some parts of the moon never see the light, but they are full of resources that NASA could mine to settle on the lunar surface and venture beyond. The agency selected a team of Northeastern students to be part of the 2020 Big Idea Challenge, in which they will develop robotic systems to help survey the darkest areas of the moon.

• by Roberto Molar Candanosa   February 21, 2020

Space Week: Remembering the moon landing 50 years later

Saturday, July 20, marked the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. News@Northeastern took a look back at the technological breakthroughs, the political decisions, and the feats of daring that made the landing possible; the lunar landing itself; and what the future might hold for space exploration. Northeastern’s Archives and Special Collections is the exclusive home of The Boston Globe’s Library Collection, and we used those images to highlight the space program and the university’s role in space exploration.

• by Gregory Grinnell   July 19, 2019

Mars and beyond

Northeastern students and faculty reflect on the role of humanoid robots in deep space exploration, sending humans to Mars, and the need for reusable spacecraft.

• by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore   July 17, 2019

Space Week: After The Moon

NASA had a lot of questions to answer before it could send astronauts to the moon. Were there harmful effects from being in space for too long? Could astronauts work outside their capsule? How would two spacecraft detach from each other and later reconnect in flight? We explore the history of moon exploration using images from The Boston Globe’s Library Collection housed exclusively at Northeastern’s Archives and Special Collections.

• by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore   July 16, 2019

Space Week: Shooting for the Moon

It was 1961 and the United States was in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up with the Soviet Union.

• by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore   July 15, 2019

Space Week: The space age takes flight

In 1865, Jules Verne published From Earth to the Moon, a novel in which characters attempt to build a cannon large enough to lob three people up to our nearest celestial neighbor.

• by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore   July 12, 2019

InSight has landed on Mars. Now the real work begins.

The data from InSight will help researchers understand how Mars was formed. These same processes shaped Earth and the other terrestrial planets more than four billion years ago. Northeastern associate professor Taskin Padir walks us through what it means.

• by Laura Castañón   November 26, 2018

The Many Worlds of Star Wars

  With the release of The Last Jedi on Friday, we just couldn’t get enough Star Wars. So, in addition to our…

• by Lia Petronio   December 15, 2017

Valkyrie's skills

Students demonstrate NASA's humanoid robot prototype Valkyrie’s abilities in the atrium of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex on Thursday. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

• by Matthew Modoono   April 7, 2017

The changing nature of space and place

The Northeastern Humanities Center recently held the second installment of this year’s Space and Place series, in which three of the center’s fellows presented interdisciplinary research on mobility, space, and place.

• by Joe O'Connell   December 15, 2014