What it takes to be an astronaut

Hello, friends!

It’s Mars Week, so if you have a hankering for space and the red planet, check out this programme of child-friendly events including a researcher’s guide to asteroids on Wednesday, a brief history of rocket science on Thursday, and an introduction to searching for life on Mars on Friday.

Back here, and on the slate this week, we have:

• the sociological impact of “big science”

• Einstein’s forgotten collaborator

• what it takes to be an astronaut.

Right. Let’s go!

🍿 online talks and events 🐧

All times are GMT.

Monday 3 March

⚡ How “big science” changes societies, with the new boss of CERN

Professor Mark Thomson, who will take over as director-general of CERN next year, looks at how our biggest scientific endeavours – such as working to understand dark matter and exploring the early Universe – both expand human knowledge and drive technological innovation.

From the secrets of the Universe to socio-economic impact: the power of big science, hybrid event by LSE, 18.30, free

Tuesday 4 March

🏭 Making carbon offsetting work in the long run

Professor Myles Allen explores potential carbon offsetting strategies for securing a net zero future, asking: might it make sense to set up an ineffective strategy first, in order to get to an effective one?

Carbon offsetting: does it really work?, hybrid lecture by Gresham College, 18.00, free

Wednesday 5 March

🚀 Watch a NASA mission launch… live!

Set your alarms/pound caffeine all day to catch this (postponed) launch of NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions just after 2 in the morning. SPHEREx will create a 3D map of the sky in 102 colours, while PUNCH will observe the Sun.

SPHEREx and PUNCH launch, official NASA broadcast, 02.15, free

🌿 A visual tribute to pioneering women in botany

Photographer and researcher Gem Toes-Crichton shares what she’s discovered about women’s contributions to botany through her research in Oxford’s Herbaria archives.

The hidden histories of women in botany, online event by the Linnean Society, 12.30, free

⚛️ Who put the Bose in the boson?

Theoretical physicist Ganapathy Baskaran discusses the work of mathematician and physicist SN Bose, who collaborated with Albert Einstein in the 1920s, and whose name would eventually be immortalised in the subatomic particle.

SN Bose and Bose-Einstein statistics, online event by the Institute of Physics, 18.00, free

Friday 7 March

🧑🏽‍🚀 Planning for future Mars missions with a former ESA flight director

The UK Space Agency’s Libby Jackson OBE tells us what it takes to make an astronaut, and how we’re planning for future missions to the Moon and Mars. Bring your questions.

Mission to Mars (Week) – exploration with UK space industry experts, online event by Friends of Imperial College (though all are welcome), 16.00, free

🌌 What bending light tells us about dark matter and dark energy

Cosmologist Dr Ben Giblin describes how gravitational lensing – where matter bends light from distant galaxies – helps us answer the big questions in his field, including: what is the nature of dark matter and dark energy?

Shedding light on the dark side of the Universe with gravitational lensing, hybrid lecture by the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh, 19.30, free

🌅 in a sky near you… 🔭

Views from Science, Please HQ, London. See Stellarium for a personalised view of your night sky after setting your location and time.

Mercury rising setting: This week, Mercury will be hanging just above the western horizon from about 6pm. It’s pretty low, so you’ll need a clear view of the horizon to spot it…

You won’t have long – round these parts it will set by 7pm – but if it’s just too faint, you’ll have the still dazzlingly bright Venus just above as a consolation prize.

🐸 closer to Earth 👀

Spawn again: Stop by your local “well-vegetated, shaded, shallow pond” for a chance of spotting clumps of frogspawn.

Frogs are coming out of hibernation at this time of year, going from the muddy riverbeds and ditches they’ve been sat in over winter (hard relate), and back to the ponds to breed.

The tadpoles will emerge about three weeks after the spawn have been laid, and 14 to 16 weeks after that, they’ll have become frogs, ready to hop out of the water and into amphibian life.

💫 we need answers

Last week I asked:

The answer is… a lightbulb.

🤔 until next week…

Here’s another one from the archive: Every year, at around the same time, what begins a journey from the south to the north of the UK, travelling at an average speed of 1.9 miles per hour?

Answer comes next week. See you then! x