Arctic Space Analog Expedition
MIT Space Exploration Initiative

A team of scientists, engineers, and designers embark on an Arctic expedition to test space technology. The MIT Space Exploration Initiative expedition in Svalbard was not simply a space analog mission, but an experience to learn how to help enable better access to remote regions from the far corners of planet Earth, to the Moon and Mars.

About MIT Space Exploration Initiative:
With society at the cusp of interplanetary civilization, the MIT Space Exploration Initiative takes a unique approach to humanity’s horizons. We are building the technologies and artifacts for life in space that will empower and delight Earth’s citizens for this new phase of our collective existence. In doing so, we build on the spirit of the MIT Media Lab, uniting artists, scientists, engineers and designers to prototype our Sci-Fi space future.

We are creating space technologies that envision a bold and culturally rich “new space age”, from astro-bacteria wearables, to open-access and shareable cubesat constellations, to musical instruments for our space voyages, to floating space habitats. The philosophy of “democratizing access to space exploration”—bringing moonshots, starshots, and earthshots into the purview of hackers and makers—courses through our work. For the MIT community and our collaborators, the Space Exploration Initiative leads space research and launch opportunities across annual zero-g flights, suborbital launches, ISS missions, and MIT's return to the Moon.

The Space Exploration Initiative supports up to 40 research projects in a given year, extensive STEAM outreach, and a team of 50+ researchers.

Expedition Leader: Maggie Coblentz
Mission Integration: Sean Auffinger
Researchers:
Somayajulu Dhulipala
Joseph Kennedy
Cody Paige
Sana Sharma
Jessica Todd

Learn more about this project:
https://mitmedialab.info/seisvlalbard

Website: https://explore-space.mit.edu
Twitter:   / explorespace_ml  
Instagram: https://.instagram.com/explorespace_ml

MIT Media Lab
Ariel Eklblaw, Director, MIT Space Exploration Initiative