Space Exploration Initiative

Every morning, the SEI team packed up their research equipment and cold weather gear before hiking out to their field site carrying spare parts and tools, extra batteries, cameras, a drone, rover, and generator. Plans constantly evolved as high winds, rain, sinking mud, cold temperatures, snow cover, dwindling light, and the possibility of a polar bear encounter, all created extra challenges for the team and their robots. Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) and Sean Auffinger (@seanauffinger ) were in charge of logistics to support the team’s safety and research, along with their Polar Bear Guard, Trond Storm Johansen, who’s lived on Svalbard for fifty years. He accompanied the team to each site to keep watch for bears so the researcher’s could focus on their work. Learn more: http://media.mit.edu/posts/svalbard-2022 Images: 1. Jess Todd (@jess_thexplorer ) and Cody Paige (@codyalison ) fly and spot a drone. 2. A drone gathers data to identify different terrain and habitat types. 3. Images captured by the drone. 4. Trond Storm Johansen scans the area for polar bears. 5. Car stuck in the mud near a field site. 6. Sean Auffinger (@seanauffinger ) wades through rivers in DIY waterproof pants. 7. Sinking mud in Adventdalen valley in Svalbard. Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

High in the Arctic, a team of space engineers, a geologist, architect, and designer went on a field expedition in Svalbard with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative. Exploring Svalbard by boat and by foot, the team visited sites that will continue to inspire further science questions, and consider space technology development that could benefit both Earth and space contexts. Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz )

“Locally grown food will be a big part of making future space missions possible, and could also benefit places on Earth where resources are limited.” Somayajulu Dhulipala (@somayajulu.dhulipala ), is a PhD graduate student in MIT MechE (@mitmeche ) on the @explorespace_ml Svalbard Expedition. The AgriThrive plant habitat is an emergency preparedness system for plants in space, as well as polar regions and deserts on Earth. A miniaturized prototype is being tested in Svalbard under varying light conditions and cold temperatures. Learn more: http://media.mit/projects/AgriThrive Images: 1. AgriThrive plant system in Svalbard. 2. @somayajulu.dhulipala installs the AgriThrive experiment. 3. Inside of the plant habitat is a multilayered structure with air gaps and water to help control the insulation and radiation shielding of the system. Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

Based out of the Czech Arctic Research Station, a team from SEI was in Svalbard in the high Arctic to test projects ranging from remote sensing, to dynamic architecture, to plant habitats, to user research in the field. Meet the SEI Svalbard Expedition 2022 team! Images: 1. Sana Sharma (@sanamakesthings ), Project | Analog Environments Study 2. Jess Todd (@jess_thexplorer ), Project | Sea2Space 3. Joe Kennedy, Project | Micro Mobile 4. Cody Paige (@codyalison ), Project | Capturing the Moon: Assessing Virtual Reality for Remote Lunar Geological Fieldwork 5. Somayajulu Dhulipala (@somayajulu.dhulipala ), Project | AgriThrive: Emergency Preparedness for Plant Growth in Martian/Lunar Environments 6. Sean Auffinger (@seanauffinger ), Mission Integrator 7. Trond Storm Johansen, Expedition Polar Bear Guard 8. Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ), Expedition Leader Learn more: http://media.mit.edu/posts/Svalbard-2022 Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

While on the field in Svalbard, the @explorespace_ML team tested a rover from the MIT Resource Exploration and Science of our Cosmic Environment (RESOURCE) project. Equipped with a custom camera tower made by Ferrous Ward (@ferrou5 ), and camera operations programmed by Don Derek Haddad (@9d3_live ), the rover gathered additional data for Cody Paige (@codyalison ) to recreate the geological environment in 3D. Images: 1. Rover deployed in Bolterdalen, Svalbard. 2. Jess Todd (@jess_thexplorer ) 2. Jess Todd, Sean Auffinger (@seanauffinger ), and Cody Paige (@codyalison ) Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

“In addition to the science, we’re learning important operations on the field that could be applied to space exploration. Conducting fieldwork in remote locations means you need to problem solve and fix things with the limited resources you have with you.” Cody Paige (@codyalison ), a PhD graduate student in MIT AeroAstro (@mitaeroastro ), took part of the Svalbard expedition with the SEI team. In Svalbard, Cody applied her background in geology and aerospace engineering to test the technological and scientific use of a virtual reality platform for remote geological exploration. This is part of MIT’s Resource Exploration and Science of our Cosmic Environment (RESOURCE) project. Throughout the expedition, Cody visited three distinct sites in Svalbard to collect visual and environmental data that will be used in their VR platform for scientists to later test and compare to traditional geological field methods. Learn more: http://media.mit.edu/projects/capturing-the-moon/overview Images: 1. Images are collected using an RGB + LiDAR camera to recreate the environment in 3D. 2. Cody measures the height of a pingo (a permafrost feature) to first gather data using traditional geological field methods. 3. A LiDAR camera is setup to collect depth data. 4. An environmental sensor is left overnight to capture 24hrs of continuous local data such as temperature, humidity, and light. Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

Exploring sites in Svalbard where the SEI team conducted field tests on technology for planetary science environments, from remote regions on Earth, to the Moon and Mars. Images: 1. A drone flown by Jess Todd (@jess_thexplorer ) collects data for intelligent scientific site selection. 2. Sean Auffinger (@seanauffinger ) and Joe Kennedy assess field sites. 3. Cody Paige (@codyalison ) takes field notes before testing her technology for remote VR environments for geological exploration. Images: Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) Reposted from @mitmedialab

Earlier this month, Maggie Coblentz (@maggiecoblentz ) from the MIT Space Exploration Initiative led a field expedition in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Here, SEI tested technology for space exploration and with applications for remote regions on Earth. Learn more: http://media.mit.edu/posts/Svalbard-2022 Image: @maggiecoblentz Reposted from @mitmedialab

Che-Wei is one of the researchers working on Zenolith. Zenolith is a zero gravity pointing device that gives astronauts a better sense of where they are in the universe. In the future, Zenolith researchers are planning to get Zenolith to the ISS for astronauts to interact with it. Zenolith flew on the SEI-chartered zero-G flight that took place last week! #voicesinspace #scifispacefutures #MITSEI

Che-Wei Wang [pron. sey-wey] (@cheewee2000 ) is an artist, designer & architect with expertise in computational and generative design, fabrication technologies, electronics, CNC machining, and metal manufacturing. He is the winner of the 2003 SOM fellowship and the Young Alumni Achievement Award from Pratt Institute. He is an alumnus of MIT Media Lab, ITP at NYU, and Pratt Institute. #voicesinspace #scifispacefutures #MITSEI