A public engagement event hosted by the Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck as part of Mars Week 2024. Exploration of our Solar System has never been more exciting with many new space missions planned or on route to their distant destinations, promising to increase our understanding of the Universe and our place in it. Exploring the Moon and Mars has been at the forefront of our endeavours so far making discussion of how essential human-crewed missions are relative to future possibilities with robotic-only missions of great significance. Our event 'Exploring the Moon and Mars: Are human missions essential or are robotics the future?' aims to highlight both sides of this exciting and topical debate. After hearing from our experts and delving deeper by asking them your questions, you can cast your own vote for Team Human or Team Robotic Exploration!

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4/18/2024

Planet of the week, Mars, is pitched against Guest Planet Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, in a lively debate on one of the hot topics in astrobiology and planetary science: 'Where is the best place to search for life beyond Earth?'. Our experts will try to convince you of the case for Team Mars or Team Europa. The ‘Mars Week Debate’ was a free public engagement event held live in person at UCL and online, on Thursday 9th March 2023. Team Mars: Prof Andrew Coates (MSSL), Prof Ian Crawford (Birkbeck) and Catherine Regan (MSSL). Team Europa: Dr Mark Fox-Powell (OU), Dr Rachael Hamp (OU) and Grace Richards (OU). Host: Dr Andrew Rushby (Birkbeck) The audience were able to put their questions to the panels, before casting their vote for Mars or Europa. Watch to find out who won on the night!

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3/23/2023