Launch Successful! 

Watch the SpaceX CRS-20 Launch recap here

March 6th 11:50pm EST

In 2017, the MIT Media Lab set its sights on space. Nearly three years to the day, the Space Exploration Initiative has grown to 50+ students, staff, and faculty and is launching five payloads to the International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-20! The payloads shown below will be deployed over a 30 day mission, allowing the research teams to study the effects of microgravity, on-station radiation environment, and launch loads on their hardware, in preparation for further deployments. This mission marks  the Media Lab's second ever rocket launch, and first launch to the ISS and constitutes a core milestone in the schedule of iterative microgravity testing that the Space Exploration Initiative undertakes throughout each year. For this launch opportunity, the payloads have been integrated into the Nanoracks BlackBox platform, shown below in pre-flight testing. 

These nested experiments will explore both fundamental and applied research supporting the future of human spaceflight, representing the diversity of the MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Initiative portfolio. Several of these projects directly address research supported by the NASA-guided Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH).

The Initiative unites engineers, scientists, artists, and designers to prototype our "sci fi" space future. We hope you explore and enjoy the rich diversity of perspectives in the five payloads below.