Dr Claire Cousins and Mark Fox-Powell explain how scientists look at life that exists in extreme environments on Earth, to see what kind of life scientists might see on the surface of Mars.  This knowledge helps scientists plan the best target for a rover.

Professor Cockell takes us through the astrobiology...

Astrobiologist Dr. Lewis Dartnell talks from the Atacama Desert about a research trip to find extremophiles that might give scientists some clues as to the kind of life that may exist on the surface of Mars.  Lewis shows how quartz can act as a natural sunscreen to enable cyanobacteria to grow in the dry desert...

Dr. Mark Woods explains how the rover technologies must be partly autonomous, since the signals from Earth to Mars take too long for every command to be send from Earth.  The technologies developed for space, also have applications on Earth.

This video is part of a series of ten which look at the one of the...

Professor Sanjeev Gupta explains how scientists from many different disciplines have been brought together for the European Space Agency Aurora programme.  Scientists and engineers also speak about how exciting it is to be working on a search for life on other planets. 

This video is part of a series of ten...

Nathan is an environmental improvement manager at North East Lincolnshire County Council.  He looks at the impact of the council on climate change and what they can do to reduce that impact across the full range of council services.  He’s essentially an ‘eco-warrior’ for the council.

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David works for the Scottish Parliament as an environmental manager. He is responsible for trying to understand the environmental impact of the parliament, such as the amount of energy it uses.  The parliament has set itself challenging targets to reduce the amount of gas and electricity it uses through initiatives...

Professor Andrew Coates and Dr Ian Hutchinson explain how the ExoMars instruments, the Pancam and Raman spectroscopy instruments can be combined to help scientists identify areas of interest on the surface of Mars.  The video shows how field trips are important to learn first-hand the challenges that the ExoMars...

Planetary scientists, Dr. Matthew Balme and Dr. Elliot Sefton-Nash, talk about how challenging it is to find a scientifically compelling site to land in, once the engineering considerations in terms of the landing has been taken into account.

This video is part of a series of ten which look at the one of the...

Guidance and navigation engineer, Richard Lancaster, explains how the ‘Mars Yard’, at Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, allows engineers to test out the capabilities of the ExoMars rover.  He talks about the need to transmit all commands and receive data through a spacecraft orbiting Mars.  Spacecraft engineer,...

Mechanical engineer, Tom Hunt, shows how precision machines are used to produce the PanCam instrument, which will be sent to the European Space Agency to be integrated on to the ExoMars rover.  Electronics engineer, Barry Hancock, shows the filter wheel being tested within the labs, at the Mullard Space Science...

Dr. Lewis Dartnell takes a sample from the Atacama desert, to the Open University, to be analysed by a Raman spectrometer.  The spectrometer shows the organic compounds that Lewis found on the quartz, as well as the composition of the quartz itself.

This video is part of a series of ten which look at the one...

Planetary scientist, Professor Andrew Coates, explains why scientists look for the evidence of signs of past life on Mars.  He talks about the history of Mars and the current harsh environment on the planet. This video is part of a series of ten which look at the one of the elements of the European Space Agency’s...