News Story

The Open University at The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2019

Sunday 8 Feb 2026

The “Living on the Moon” exhibit took place at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition last week and proved very popular, with an estimate of more than 10,000 visitors. The exhibit was created by a consortium of 5 UK institutions (The Open University, Birkbeck, Natural History Museum, Oxford University and Manchester University), bringing together lunar research from the past 50 years and showcasing cutting-edge technology that paved the way for future lunar exploration over the next 50 years.

The team of UK scientists were led by The Open University, revealing research which brings the possibility of living on the Moon much closer. Congratulations and thanks to Mahesh Anand who oversaw the whole operation and to the following who helped on the stand or in other ways: Alice Stephant, Ben Dryer, Tara Hayden, Thomas Barrett, Natalie Starkey, Hannah Sargeant, Richard Greenwood, Simon Sheridan, Simeon Barber, Ian Wright, Sam Faircloth, Ross Findlay, Ian Franchi, Leonie Mercedes (OU Undergrad – Physics), Ian Wright, Monica Grady, Andrew Holland, Feargus Abernathy, James Mortimer, Sungwoo Lim, Giulia Degli-Allessandrini, Rich Windmill, Zoe Morland and Andrew Morse. A particular thanks to Alice, Ben, Tara and Tom for making major contributions in putting together the exhibit and for looking after various logistical arrangements, and Natalie Starkey for carrying out an impact assessment. The team are grateful to SPS, Space SRA, STFC and UKSA for financial support.

SPS was also a major contributor to the “BepiColombo: x-ray eyes on Mercury” exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, headed by our University of Leicester colleagues. Dave Rothery was at the Royal Society from Thursday to Sunday and Chris Malliband and David Pegg also attended. Congratulations and thanks to this team too.