The Open University

To the moon and beyond 5: What space exploration will look like in 2069

31 July 2019

Miriam Frankel, The Conversation and Martin Archer, Queen Mary University of London What will space exploration look like in 2069, a century after the first moon landing? In the fifth and final episode of the podcast series, To the moon and beyond, we speak to space scientists about the missions they are dreaming about and […]

Moon landings: what the future holds

20 July 2019

As the world remembers the day 50 years ago that astronauts stepped on the Moon for the first time, the OU’s Dr Mahesh Anand, considers the future of space exploration and establishing a Moon base, with the challenges this could involve. Dr Anand is a renowned lunar scientist and Reader in Planetary Science and Exploration, […]

Image of an astronaut on the surface of the moon

My three minutes with the first man on the Moon

19 July 2019

When you meet the man who took the first “small step” for man on the Moon, it’s not surprisingly an occasion which sticks in your memory. The OU’s Emeritus Professor John Zarnecki had that encounter just over nine years ago and recalls his chat with Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong: In March 2010 Professor John […]

Water on the Moon; the work behind the dream

17 July 2019

Hannah Sargeant is a PhD student at The Open University, working on techniques to extract water from Moon rocks. As around the globe, people remember the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings, we talked to her about what led her to the OU and her work as a researcher: “Why did I choose to work […]

Open University announced as NASA partner on mission to the Moon

15 July 2019

Scientists from The Open University (OU) are supporting one of a series of ground-breaking missions by NASA to go back to the Moon. The announcement comes as the world prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landings, when astronauts from Apollo 11 walked on the Moon on July 20th 1969. These new […]

“The OU completely changed my life”

10 July 2019

Science was the one subject Ray Barber loved since he was a boy. Working as a college technician with no qualifications, he embarked on an OU degree and his life took an amazing turn; which he credits to the qualifications he gained with the OU. He’s since travelled the world with his work, including a […]

OU’s Lunar scientists take a look at living on the Moon

1 July 2019

A team of UK scientists, led by The Open University, are revealing research which brings the possibility of living on the Moon much closer. The Living on the Moon! exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition (1-7 July), created by a consortium of 5 UK institutions, brings together lunar research from the past 50 […]

Enceladus, NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

OU receives £6.7 million to expand Astrobiology research

13 June 2019

The Open University (OU) has received £6.7 million to expand its Astrobiology Research Group to address fundamental questions about life beyond the Earth. The grant is awarded under Research England’s “Expanding Excellence in England (E3) 2019-2022”. The funding was announced today by Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore, as part of 13 government backed projects […]

Spectacular series explores our Solar System

24 May 2019

Presented by Professor Brian Cox, The Planets is a sumptuous look at the beauty and the grandeur of eight planets, told across five episodes, beginning with A Moment In The Sun.

The moon is still geologically active, study suggests

15 May 2019

We tend to think of the moon as the archetypal “dead” world. Not only is there no life, almost all its volcanic activity died out billions of years ago. Even the youngest lunar lava is old enough to have become scarred by numerous impact craters that have been collected over the aeons as cosmic debris […]

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