Join us to learn about our amazing facilities and experiments, and find out more about the space research that we're conducting around the country. Discover how we study meteorites in our particle accelerators and search for the elusive dark matter from our lab in an underground mine.
If you would like to attend these virtual tours listed below, or receive a recording of the session, please register for the event and select 'Introduction to our space research' from the ticket options.
Suitable for ages 9+.
17:30
| When the chips are down: space research at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
| Explore how Cosmic Rays have the potential to disrupt our increasingly electronically dominated lives and how the ISIS Neutron Muon Source is getting to grips with the problem. Discover how neutron experiments here on Earth are being used to help realise the ambition of a manned base on the Moon.
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18:00
| From the atmosphere upwards: an introduction to Chilbolton Observatory
Stockbridge, Hampshire
| Chilbolton Observatory is home to a wide range of science facilities covering research in atmospheric science, radiocommunications, astronomy, space science and technology. Join this talk to learn how we use the large 25m dish and radars to monitor the Earth's atmosphere.
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18:30
| Exploring space beneath the surface: space research at the Boulby Underground Laboratory
Boulby Mine, North Yorkshire
| Normally, when people think about space, they look upwards – going to the tops of high mountains, or even out into space. At the Boulby Underground Laboratory, though, we travel 1,100 m underground to learn more about the Universe! Join us to find out how we’re searching for dark matter, and helping to explore our solar system – including the possibility of life on other planets.
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19:00
| Preparing for launch: an introduction to RAL Space environmental testing
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
| Join this virtual tour to take a look inside RAL Space and find out how we build and test spacecraft before they are launched into space. You will see our clean rooms and space test chambers and learn how we can simulate the environment of space, right here on the ground.
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19:30
| An introduction to space science at Diamond Light Source
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
| Diamond Light Source works like a giant microscope, harnessing the power of electrons to produce bright light that scientists can use to study anything from comet dust to jet engines, to viruses and moon rocks. During this tour you will visit the particle accelerator and hear all about how electrons are sped up to near the speed of light so that they give off light 10 billion times brighter than the sun, how these bright beams are then directed off into laboratories known as ‘beamlines’, and how scientists use this light to study a vast range of subject matter, from new medicines and treatments for disease to Martian geology and conditions on other planets.
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Please note the schedule may be subject to change.
