On Nov. 9, a Lincoln Laboratory–developed laser communications terminal integrated on a NASA-built payload was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle. Cameras inside the launch vehicle enabled the laboratory and a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center team to watch as the payload headed for the International Space Station (ISS), a football-field-sized research platform orbiting […]
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Walter M. Hollister ’53, MS ’59, PhD ’63, MIT professor emeritus in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), passed away Sept. 9 at age 92. A resident of Lincoln, Massachusetts, Hollister was originally from Rye, New York. As a high school student, he was passionate about athletics, earning five varsity letters in sports. He […]
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All eyes were on the robot-dog pacing the hangar on Hanscom Air Force Base. The robot was just one technology, among small drones, autonomous mapping vehicles, and virtual-environment simulators, set up for military cadets to interact with. The goal was to open cadets’ minds to possibilities. Over the next year, they will be applying such […]
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James Fujimoto ’79, SM ’81, PhD ’84, the Elihu Thomson Professor in Electrical Engineering and principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), and Subra Suresh ScD ’81, former dean of the MIT School of Engineering, have been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and the National Medal of Science, respectively, the […]
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As autonomous systems and artificial intelligence become increasingly common in daily life, new methods are emerging to help humans check that these systems are behaving as expected. One method, called formal specifications, uses mathematical formulas that can be translated into natural-language expressions. Some researchers claim that this method can be used to spell out decisions […]
Read MoreWhen searching for flights on Google, you may have noticed that each flight’s carbon-emission estimate is now presented next to its cost. It’s a way to inform customers about their environmental impact, and to let them factor this information into their decision-making. A similar kind of transparency doesn’t yet exist for the computing industry, despite […]
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The popular children’s game of telephone is based on a simple premise: The starting player whispers a message into the ear of the next player. That second player then passes along the message to the third person and so on until the message reaches the final recipient, who relays it to the group aloud. Often, […]
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On Sunday morning, a capsule the size of a mini-fridge dropped from the skies over western Utah, carrying a first-of-its-kind package: about 250 grams of dirt and dust plucked from the surface of an asteroid. As a candy-striped parachute billowed open to slow its freefall, the capsule plummeted down to the sand, slightly ahead of […]
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In the future, quantum computers may be able to solve problems that are far too complex for today’s most powerful supercomputers. To realize this promise, quantum versions of error correction codes must be able to account for computational errors faster than they occur. However, today’s quantum computers are not yet robust enough to realize such […]
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Whenever the United States develops a new system — say, a plane — this system needs to be tested and validated to ensure all of its components are working as intended. That’s where the U.S. national test and training infrastructure comes into play. Across the country are many different ranges focused on assessing the systems […]
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Ultrasound that doesn’t require touching patients. A web-based tool that reinvents crew scheduling for the Air Force. Cryptographic hardware that protects sensitive data. And the world’s first practical memory for quantum networking. These four technologies developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, either wholly or with collaborators, received 2023 R&D 100 Awards. The ultrasound technology also received […]
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Nestled among the diverse labs and prototyping facilities at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Microelectronics Laboratory (ML) whirs away. Technicians in the ML fabricate advanced integrated circuits, which end up in systems that peer into the cosmos, observe weather from space, and power quantum computers — to name just a few uses. The ML is one […]
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Researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory and their collaborators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Ultrasound Research and Translation (CURT) have developed a new medical imaging device: the Noncontact Laser Ultrasound (NCLUS). This laser-based ultrasound system provides images of interior body features such as organs, fat, muscle, tendons, and blood vessels. The system also measures […]
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Imagine you want to carry a large, heavy box up a flight of stairs. You might spread your fingers out and lift that box with both hands, then hold it on top of your forearms and balance it against your chest, using your whole body to manipulate the box. Humans are generally good at whole-body […]
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