MEET PALAK PATEL: ADVANCING HUMAN EXPLORATION BEYOND EARTH

2025 Amelia Earhart (AE) Fellow Palak Patel is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), conducting research in the NECST Lab within the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics She is also a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities Fellow at NASA Langley Research Center, where she develops multifunctional materials for extreme environments critical to human deep space exploration. Palak works on materials for lunar dust mitigation and ablative thermal protection systems. She completed her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in India, where she collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organization on space technologies.

BCC News recently interviewed Palak about some of the exciting work she and her colleagues worked on last year.

“We’re really looking at it from the standpoint of, ‘Let’s try to minimize the number of resupply missions,’” said Palak

Palak says that future resource-extracting machines on the moon could derive iron, titanium or lithium from regolith, for example These materials might help astronauts living on the moon make 3D-printed spare parts for their moon base or replacement components for damaged spacecraft and potentially build structures on the moon

Outside of research, Palak is committed to safety, mentorship and outreach. She is a mentor and safety officer for MIT’s MakerWorkshop, an environmental health and safety officer, a graduate residential advisor and leads STEM outreach. After her Ph.D., she plans to advance human spaceflight technologies and support human exploration beyond Earth. In her free time, she enjoys soccer, painting, running and the outdoors.