Mission Leads
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Ariel Ekblaw, Principal Investigator
Dr. Ariel Ekblaw founded the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, a team of 50+ students, faculty and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. Ariel leads the MIT “To the Moon to Stay Mission” and developed MIT’s “Operating in the Lunar Environment Course” that incubated and advised this first cohort of lunar surface payloads.
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Cody Paige, SEI Director and Camera Project Lead
Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the Media Lab, a team of 50+ students, faculty and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.
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Dava Newman, Director, MIT Media Lab
Dava Newman is the director of the MIT Media Lab. She holds the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics chair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Payload Leads
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Cody Paige, SEI Director and Camera Project Lead
Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the Media Lab, a team of 50+ students, faculty and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.
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Fangzheng Liu, AstroAnt Project Lead
Fangzheng Liu is a second-year PhD student at the MIT Media Lab, studying in the Responsive Environments group, advised by Prof. Joseph A. Paradiso and Dr. Ariel Ekblaw.
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Maya Nasr, HUMANS Project Lead and Co-Founder
Maya is a scientist at Harvard and EDF focusing on the mission planning for in-orbit calibrations and the development of machine learning models for the MethaneSAT project, with expertise in spacecraft operations, engineering systems, technology strategy, and space law and policy.
Mission Team
Contributors
In Memoriam
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In Memoriam: Elise O'Hara, Former Administrative Assistant, SEI
Elise O’Hara, a cherished member of the Media Lab community, died on December 12, 2023 as a result of complications following the birth of a healthy child. In her time at the Media Lab, Elise was perhaps best known for her warmth and her kindness. She is survived by her husband, Sean O’Hara; her parents, Robert and Jean Valerio; her sister, Julie Cornell; and her three children.