Kicking off celebrations to mark British astronaut Tim Peake’s launch into space, this evening provides a unique opportunity to discover how Imperial researchers and some of its Exhibition Road neighbours are uncovering the secrets beyond Earth’s orbit.
Register your place in advance via Eventbrite (external link) to claim your free mince pie (available for the first 200 people who present valid tickets on the afternoon) at a festive celebration which is truly out of this world!
Volunteer to help at the event by registering here (external link).
Come and talk to our space scientists and get hands-on with research from across the College, with opportunities to:
- Put your questions to Britain’s first astronaut, Dr Helen Sharman, and attend the exlcuive premier of new short film exploring on what its really like to travel to space
- Journey through the solar system without even leaving South Kensington in an inflatable planetarium
- Create your own meteorite crashes, search for fragments in the desert, and get up close and personal with real life rocky visitors from outer space with our Impacts and Astromaterials Research Centre
- Discover why magnetic fields are important to your phone reception, and how the 2018 Solar Orbiter mission will map the magnetic structure of the Sun to investigate space weather
- Meet Imperial’s Rocket society and get your hands on real life rockets capable of breaking the sound barrier
- Test for organic life and explore what the changing geology of Mars can tell us about the potential for life on the red planet
- Build your own pocket-sized spacecraft and hear about the latest low-cost route to space exploration
- Find out how instruments designed at Imperial are being used in the European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder mission to put aspects of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity to the test
Throughout the afternoon, visit South Kensington Christmas Market for a host of festive treats, as well as science busking with Physics’ Dr Simon Foster and Dr Jonathan Eastwood on Imperial’s public engagement tricycle.
Annual Children’s Christmas lecture
Forming part of the College’s celebrations during the evening is the Annual Children’s Christmas lecture.
This year’s speaker is Dr Zita Martins (Earth Sciences and Engineering), whose talk is entitled The Universe: a journey through space and time.
Find out more and register for the lecture, as well as following updates on social media via the hashtag #FindingET.
About the Imperial Fringe series
It is rocket science is the latest in Imperial College’s Fringe series of public evening events exploring the livelier side of science. Based on the College’s ground-breaking research, the Fringe programme runs throughout the year to give our friends and supporters an opportunity to meet our researchers and find out more about our work.
Follow us on Twitter at @ImperialSpark or use #impfringe for the latest additions to the Fringe line-up. For more information about the Imperial Fringe series and Imperial Festival, join our Facebook group or visit the Fringe webpages.