The Open University

Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

Astronomy research from the OU among Physics World 2016 top breakthroughs

16 December 2016

The discovery of a planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, has been highly commended among Physics World 2016 top 10 breakthroughs. As part of an international team of astronomers, Postdoctoral Researcher at The Open University, Dr John Barnes, was instrumental in establishing that the observed ‘wobble’ of Proxima Centauri was caused by a nearby […]

How booming Havana can avoid the traffic and pollution that plagues most middle-income cities

1 December 2016

The classic 1950s cars on the streets of Havana are much admired by foreigners, yet the reality for most Cubans is a lot more mundane. For them, owning a car – any car – remains a dream, albeit one which has been reawakened by economic reforms and moves towards normalising relations with the US. But […]

India-UK Excellence Award for OU research partnership

11 November 2016

Dr Satheesh Krishnamurthy, a Senior Lecturer in Energy, along with his academic partner, Dr Amit Kumar Chakraborty from the National Institute of Technology (NITD) in Durgapur, India, has won the Mobility Award at the India-UK Excellence Awards. Their project to develop low-cost solar cells has involved a researcher exchange programme which has fostered the skills of young academics […]

Study sheds light on violent asteroid crash that caused mysterious ‘crater rings’ on the moon

8 November 2016

Some 3.8 billion years ago, the moon was a dangerous place – constantly bombarded with asteroids and comets. Our celestial neighbour still bears the scars of this time, in the shape of craters. The biggest of these are called basins, and one is the mysterious, 930km-diameter Orientale Basin, which looks like a bull’s eye with […]

Schiaparelli lander above the surface of Mars

What missing lander means for Europe’s quest to find life on Mars

20 October 2016

Researchers at the European Space Operations’ Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, had another one of those nervous days – waiting to hear first from a probe designed to land on Mars’ surface, and then from the probe’s orbiting mother ship. By the end of the day, the flight engineers and mission scientists were half satisfied – […]

Dr Manish Patel in the OU's Hypervelocity Impact Lab.

Man on a mission: How OU academic launched a career in space

15 October 2016

Dr Manish Patel was inspired by space at a young age; venturing out in the middle of the night stargazing with his dad and his telescope. He studied an MPhys in Physics and Space Science at the University of Kent, more out of interest than as a career. After that, in what he describes as “a […]

ExoMars Schiaparelli Lander simulation on Mars

OU prepares for first successful landing on Mars

13 October 2016

Academics from the OU will be among those eagerly anticipating the first ever successful landing by European space scientists on Mars. The team of scientists from the OU are part of the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars Mission, which will discover if methane gas exists in the atmosphere and below the surface. This will help scientists […]

Rear view of a thoughtful woman who tries to solve math problems. Math calculations on black chalk board. Thinkstock

Special award for inspiring OU professor who champions womens’ careers in maths

11 October 2016

A leading OU maths professor who has championed the career progression of women in maths in the UK is being recognised with a special award from the Suffrage Science Scheme at a ceremony at Bletchley Park on Ada Lovelace Day today (11 October). Professor Gwyneth Stallard OBE, Professor of Pure Mathematics in the OU’s Faculty […]

OU research student on how to make it in space, without actually going there

4 October 2016

Vibha Srivastava has always wanted to be an astronaut and work in space science, which wasn’t straightforward as a young women from North East India. Before joining The Open University (OU) as a PhD Researcher she studied Aeronautical Engineering at Gujarat University, and a Masters at the International Space University in Strasbourg in France, including […]

Rosetta may be crashing, but its legacy lives on here on Earth

29 September 2016

The Rosetta Mission will end with a controlled descent to the surface of Comet 67P on Friday 30th September 2016; however, its legacy will live on in applications on Earth, developed by academics at The Open University, including detecting cancer and sniffing out bed bugs. The European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology