An MIT Instrumentation Lab engineer checks Apollo Command Module onboard guidance computer programs in a special simulator that can run complete missions to test program accuracy. (Charles Stark Draper Historical Collection, MIT Museum; Courtesy The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory)
INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION President Maclaurin stated that he believes (MIT) should lead in the study of Aërial Navigation in the United States.
A complete Centennial Symposium agenda with times, locations, and speaker’s and panelists’ names for the three-day event is available at:
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, JULY 1909
http://aeroastro.mit.edu/aeroastro100. Registration is required for all events. There is a nominal fee to attend the Symposium and a separate fee for the Banquet. To determine fees and to register, visit:
With the above statement, MIT President Richard Maclaurin set the stage for what, in 1914, would become class 13.72 Aeronautics. That same year, an aeronautics master's degree course was approved. In 1926, Aeronautics became Course 16 in the Mechanical Engineering Department. In 1939, Course 16 became a department unto itself.
http://aeroastro.mit.edu/aeroastro100 Questions? Please email us at: aa100@mit.edu
The MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department gratefully acknowledges our Centennial Celebration sponsors. They include:
MIT’s first aeronautics class, from the 1913-1914 MIT course catalogue.
THE BOEING COMPANY
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
DRAPER LABORATORIES
OPUS DESIGN
LOCKHEED MARTIN
SPACEX
1914
1938
1953
1959
1960
1964
1969
1988
2014
MIT offers the first course in aeronautical engineering, 13.72, Aeronautics for Naval Constructors.
Wright Bros. Wind Tunnel dedicated, the first MIT large-scale facility for advanced research in aerodynamics.
Doc Draper flies from Massachusetts to Los Angeles in a B-29 guided by his Space Inertial Reference Equipment — the first long-distance inertially navigated aircraft flight.
Department of Aeronautical Engineering becomes Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
NASA selects the Instrumentation Lab to design and build the Apollo navigation and guidance systems.
AeroAstro’s Sheila Widnall becomes MIT’s first woman professor of engineering. She later becomes an MIT Institute Professor and Secretary of the Air Force.
Buzz Aldrin is the first of five Course 16 grads who travel to the moon.
MIT students, faculty, and alumni set the world record for human-powered flight with the aircraft they designed and built: Daedalus 88.
AeroAstro-designed proposed commercial aircraft design undergoes extensive testing for NASA. The “D-8” could use 70% less fuel than current planes while reducing noise and emissions.
CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM OCTOBER 22 – 24, 2014 YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
With NASA mentor Jennifer Rochlis’s (AeroAstro SM ’98, PhD ’02) assistance, senior Meera Chander (left) and recent MIT grad Joshua Oreman test their artificial gravity spacecraft design aboard a NASA reduced gravity flight. An extracurricular project developed by an AeroAstro student team, the vehicle uses flywheels to induce vehicular motion, producing artificial gravity as well as steering/navigation, without a propulsion system.
DAY 2
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23 Day Two of the Symposium focuses on industry, government, and academic leaders’ visions of aerospace’s future. The morning begins with a panel discussion on the future of air transport and technologies under development to satisfy growing demands on aircraft, operations, and infrastructure, while addressing energy costs and environmental constraints. The next panel explores autonomous and intelligent aerospace systems, including human-machine interaction and the technologies that will enable long-duration complex unmanned missions. Northrop Grumman Chairman and CEO Wes Bush is the featured speaker.
Throughout 2014, the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first aeronautics class and the nation’s first aeronautical engineering graduate program. The high point of this celebration is the October 22-24 Centennial Symposium featuring some of the most illustrious names in aerospace reflecting on past achievement, celebrating today’s innovative research and education, and
Professor Paulo Lozano holds a penny-sized electrospray thruster he’s developing in the Space Systems Lab. By providing electric propulsion for tiny spacecraft, these revolutionary devices could make possible an entirely new class of space missions.
offering their perspectives on what lies ahead. The three-day event includes an evening reception at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and a gala dinner at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Please visit: http://aeroastro.mit.edu/aeroastro100 for details and registration
SYMPOSIUM DAY 1 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22 The Centennial Symposium kicks off in the afternoon with reflections on the history of flight and MIT’s contributions to aerospace development. Following a presentation by National Air and Space Museum Senior Curator of Aeronautics Tom Crouch, Apollo astronaut panelists will discuss their experiences with the moon exploration project and Skylab, and reflect on one of mankind’s most profound technical achievements.
Following lunch, experts in the burgeoning field of small satellites will detail innovative applications for these miniature systems, including interplanetary science, and ponder means to make nanosatellites easily customizable and cost-effective. MIT Professor of Geophysics and Vice President for Research Maria Zuber is the featured speaker. The day’s final panel turns the discussion from vehicles and exploration to aerospace education. Discussion will center on the challenge of maintaining a robust industry workforce in the face of looming retirements, use of new educational technologies and tools, and lifelong learning strategies.
DAY 3
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24
RECEPTION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22
The Symposium’s final day begins with 10 undergraduate and graduate students’ “lightning talks”: five-minute presentations on their unique and exciting aerospace-related ideas and projects. The panel presentations wrap up in a Q&A session with MIT alumni Shuttle and International Space Station astronauts offering thoughts on topics ranging from their experiences as MIT students to their perspectives on the future of manned spaceflight.
October 22, Symposium Day One, wraps up with a reception hosted by The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at its Kendall Square, Cambridge facility.
Day Three ends with a noontime session featuring entrepreneur, inventor, SpaceX CEO/CTO, and Tesla Motors Chief Product Architect Elon Musk. Musk will share his visions of aerospace’s future, and will take questions submitted by the audience and in advance via the 100th Anniversary website.
October 23, Symposium Day Two, culminates in a banquet, hosted by MIT President Rafael Reif and AeroAstro Department Head Jaime Peraire, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Former Lockheed Martin CEO and President Norman Augustine, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will offer remarks. There is a charge for this event.
SYMPOSIUM BANQUET THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23