Aerogels

This Catalyst article investigates the nature of aerogels, which are among the least dense solid materials, not much denser than air. Aerogels were made as the result of a bet and ended up going into space to capture comet dust. They are the lightest solids which exist and have some unusual features.

The...

space:uk - Winter 2012, Issue 36

This edition of space:UK, from the UK Space Agency, includes a focus on satellite navigation, ESA ministerial meetings and six pages dedicated to social media. Articles include: - Recent news: Reports from the ESA Ministerial meeting, success for new weather satellite and space stamps celebrate UK achievements -...

space:uk - Summer 2012, Issue 35

This special space:UK issue from the UK Space Agency, celebrating 50 years of the UK’s expansion into space, looks into stories about the first British satellite, and its demise, and the latest of innovative ideas such as a European spacecraft designed to fly closer to the sun than ever before. Articles in this...

Scientific Vocabulary for Upper Key Stage Two

This resource contains lists of vocabulary to help develop an understanding of key scientific words at primary level. The twelve vocabulary lists cover the topics of: electricity, sound, states of matter, earth and space, interdependence and adaptation, keeping healthy, life cycles, microorganisms, dissolving and...

Special Relativity

This animated clip describes Einstein’s theory of special relativity: if the speed of light is constant then time and space must be experienced differently, depending on the observer. Richard Feynman showed how this can be proved using a moving light clock compared to stationary clock. 

Exoplanets

This animated clip explains how planets outside our solar system are difficult to see because they get lost in the glare of the star they orbit. The clip briefly mentions Doppler shift, dimming through transit as detection techniques that enable us to infer what the planet is made of, and explains what the...

Tim Peake

This video is a message to ESERO-UK from European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake. He talks about studying STEM subjects and how he became an astronaut. The video includes images of a launch, Tim engaging in various astronaut training exercises and the International Space Station, where Tim will be for six months...

What Keeps Us Stuck to the Earth?

Alice wonders why we don’t float out into space. Their thoughts lead on to the idea that gravity is an acceleration and that they may need Einstein’s ideas of space-time to explain why they are accelerating. This clip could provide a lead in to topics such as relativity, acceleration and gravitational force. 

Defying Gravity

The 2013 Institute of Physics Schools Lecture - Defying Gravity: Laura Thomas, an independent science communicator with a background in astrophysics, talks about the physics of space flight. She explains how studying physics and mathematics could...

Gaia's Mission: Solving the Celestial Puzzle

This film documents the mission to create the largest, most-accurate, map of the Milky Way in three dimensions, which will revolutionise our understanding of the galaxy and the universe beyond. On 19th December 2013, a rocket blasted into the sky from a launch site in French Guiana and travelled 1.5 million km to...