Space exploration commands big budget and potentially few obvious benefits to the average person. So why do we still invest in it?

When Cassini was being designed in the 1980s, an innovative plutonium energy source was developed to sustain it’s long journey. A source that would and still does carry considerable ethical considerations.

David Walker investigates how enlisting the joint observational powers of amateur astronomers through citizen science projects will help further our knowledge of the universe.

A recent study by a team of international researchers has determined that a staggering number of brown dwarfs may be present in our galaxy

An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Manchester, may have uncovered the illusive intermediate-mass black hole.

Physicists have proposed a new mathematical model for a time machine that permits forwards and backwards time travel.

SpaceX yesterday outlined plans to start launching a constellation of satellites in 2019 that could provide affordable internet access options to all areas of the globe by 2024.

In this article we will count down our top ten favourite popular songs written about extra-terrestrials and other worlds from the 1950s to date.

The new NASA mission, ICON, is looking to demonstrate how planet Earth and its weather contributes to the physics of the ionosphere.

I,Science caught up with Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space.

In part 3 of our Diary of a Researcher series, we take a look at how Imperial physicists are recreating the conditions of space, on Earth.

Alternative habitats in the solar system could provide us with opportunities to escape Earth

Space and time bend. Intuition falters. What do we really know? Monopoles is a weekend of exhibitions, talks and performances featuring cutting edge physics alongside award-winning art, film, poetry and music. Monopoles brings the search for the magnetic monopole at the Large Hadron Collider (CERN) into a Bermondsey art space. The weekend will open with […]

A voyage through a galaxy of favourite music from deep space and beyond, with lights, lasers and fireworks. Including works by Holst, Strauss and John Williams – perhaps the greatest film composer of all time and winner of over 40 prestigious awards, including 5 Oscars. Over the decades their music has accompanied us on epic […]

Head into orbit at this month’s Lates for a sartorial view of space… We’ll be hosting our very first space-inspired fashion show with the European Space Agency. You’ll get to see outfits from the brightest budding fashion minds across Europe, all designed as practical clothing that includes technology and fabrics relating to space travel. You’ll meet […]

Gazing at the night sky with our eyes or telescopes reveals twinkling stars and far away galaxies. But visible light is only a small part of what some of these objects are emitting. Join astrophysicist Jen Gupta to discover views of the Universe at other wavelengths, from familiar objects like our Sun to weird and […]

“It’s a tax write-off. This is where they send the new, the underqualified, the old. And most of all the British. Mars is full of blonde Americans. It’s like they’re building the master race out there.” Billions of miles from home, the lone research base on Pluto has lost contact with Earth. Unable to leave […]

Over the last 52 years BBC’s Horizon programme has been documenting the cutting-edge of science, technology and how it effects our lives. From Frank Oppenheimer to Carl Sagan and DNA to dinosaurs it has brought us stories from the frontline and continues to innovate. We’ll get unique access to clips from the Horizon vaults to watch how science and […]

The revolutionary SABRE air-breathing rocket engine, has the potential to transform access to Space. This lecture will explore the unique characteristics of the SABRE engine and the prospects it offers for a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle with aircraft-like operation. SABRE is at heart a rocket engine designed to power aircraft directly into space (single-stage to orbit) […]

Where is the best place to find living life beyond Earth? It may be that the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn harbor some of the most habitable real estate in our Solar System. Life loves liquid water and these moons have lots of it! Kevin Hand will explain the science behind why we think we know […]

‘One day, Sir, you may tax it’: Faraday’s prescient quip when quizzed about the practical value of electricity in 1850 neatly demonstrates that advanced societies cannot afford to stifle scientific curiosity for its own sake – a powerful if serendipitous driver of technological and societal progress. It will be argued that fundamental research into astronomy, […]

Fifty years since the first space probe landed on the moon, Ri Lates will be exploring space, from the rocket fuel that propels us and the life of an astronaut to the scientific advances our journeys in space have given rise to. What’s life like on the ISS? How do our modern lives depend on […]

The Cosmonauts exhibition features the first canine space travellers. Visitors can see the type of Sputnik cabin Laika the dog lived in during her brief spaceflight in 1957. It also celebrates the flight of Belka and Strelka, whose safe return to Earth in 1960 paved the way for Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering human flight one year […]

The discovery of exoplanets and of Earth twins will be described, with a review of attempts to estimate the probability of finding life in the universe – for example how many stars do we need to survey to find suitable planets? How much time is needed to generate life? The FERMI paradox: where are the […]

Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society Lord Martin Rees presents the 2016 Peter Lindsay Memorial Lecture. Unmanned spacecraft have visited the other planets of our Solar System (and some of their moons), beaming back pictures of varied and distinctive worlds – but none propitious for life. But prospects are far more interesting […]

To Einstein science provided not only a means for understanding the behaviour of the universe but also a foundation for considering the deeper questions of life. A century after the publication of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which totally transformed our understanding of space, time and gravity, and thus the entire physics of the universe, […]

Why is the sky dark at night? This talk will explore the differing roles of puzzles and paradoxes in science and in mathematics. Thought experiments like Maxwell’s Demon or the EPR Paradox have been used to illustrate or question new ideas in physics; the Olbers Paradox has challenged our understanding of the universe, while mathematical […]

In 1989 Soviet authorities admitted publicly for the first time the existence of a formerly secret programme to land a cosmonaut on the Moon. The space race between the USA and USSR, so well established in the lexicon of the 1960s, had indeed been real. Even as the Americans were preparing for their final Apollo Moon landing […]

The Natural History Museum comes to life after dark. Night owls can explore our galleries, exhibitions and shops after hours, and enjoy expert-led talks and events at Lates. Events at January Lates include: Space Films – Science vs Fiction Space Odyssey Silent Tour: Meteorites Members’ Silent Tour: Meteorites  

It’s that time of the month again! Join the Science Museum in celebrating the innovation and legacy of the Russian space programme. Check out the museum’s resident comedy team, Punk Science. They’ve teamed up with some of the funniest and most interesting people around to entertain and probably educate you with demonstrations of scientific concepts, curious theories and […]