Exploring exploration
A live video feed from the International Space Station and a deep-sea radio transmission from near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill established broad parameters for a two-day symposium at MIT examining the new world of exploration. The event, which took place April 26-27, was the penultimate in a series of six symposia to mark MIT’s 150th anniversary. Explorers both Earth-bound and beyond gathered at Kresge Auditorium to honor human achievements in exploration and the technologies that have made extreme expeditions possible, including deep-sea diving robots, zero-gravity flights, lunar spacecraft and the Mars rovers.“We’re here to celebrate the human experience, and what it means for humans to be here,” said symposium chair Dava Newman SM ’89, PhD ’92, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems. Newman opened the symposium by asking the many students in the audience to stand. “This is for you,” she said. “You really...