Over 50 science communicators, astronomers, scientists, and planetarium presenters zoomed in for the first in a series of lunchtime Community Space Calls run by ASDC as part of the UK Space Agency funded, Destination Space programme.
Prof. Sanjeev Gupta, Professor of Earth Science, Imperial College London shared the latest news from Mars Rover with amazing photos and videos including what happened when a sample from the red planet’s surface disappeared!
We watched live demos from the team at the National Space Centre who created Mars soil in a jar, shaped James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) origami, and revealed their new shiny JWST mirror jigsaw that’s available for visitors to complete.
Steven Gray, President of the British Association of Planetaria (BAP) and co-founder of Cosmos Planetarium, along with his colleague and science communicator Hannah Nisbet from Aerospace Kinross, showcased clips from their JWTS planetarium show as well as activities for Mars Ingenuity, using paper and quadcopter drones.
Prof. Stephen Wilkins, Professor in Astronomy and Public Understanding of Science, University of Sussex talked about his work on JWST and Euclid, sharing his excitement about the future for JWST and how it can help find the answers to the many as yet unanswered questions out there.
Thank you to all our speakers and everyone who contributed and attended - we look forward to the next one!
The second ASDC Community Space Call will be on 17th April, 12 – 1.30pm and will focus on the theme of space sustainability and the upcoming launch of Biomass.
These community calls will run across the next two years to bring space and astronomy public engagement colleagues together to explore the latest space news, with opportunities to share ideas on engaging audiences with the most relevant space topics. They are open to all space engagement practitioners so please share the details across your networks.