Professor Brian Cox and an expert panel tackle the technology, politics and ethics of space exploration.  

From space tourism to the search for life on Mars, space is a rapidly expanding, multi-trillion-pound global industry, driven by scientific, commercial and often political goals.  But what are the rules of space and who makes them?    

In this episode, the panel answers audience questions on how Earth’s geopolitics are reflected in space, when asteroid mining might become a reality, and whether those star-buying kits are value for money. 

Panellists 

• Carly Howett – Associate Professor of Space Instrumentation, University of Oxford
• Jill Stuart – Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics
• Helen Sharman – Chemist, science communicator and first British astronaut
• Sanjeev Gupta – Professor of Earth Sciences, Imperial College London

Watch the video version of this episode and read a transcript on our website: www.crick.ac.uk/podcast/space 

A BBC Studios Production for the Francis Crick Institute.   

Music by John Biddle

© BBC Studios / Francis Crick Institute 2025