BSc Planetary Exploration with Astronomy and Astrobiology

About this course

Planetary Exploration with Astronomy and Astrobiology sits at one of the most exciting frontiers of contemporary science. We live in an era of extraordinary space exploration, with spacecraft revealing the geology, atmospheres and potential habitability of planets, moons and other bodies across our solar system and beyond. The discovery of thousands of exoplanets around other stars has transformed the question of life elsewhere in the universe from a philosophical speculation into an active scientific research programme, and astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution and potential distribution of life in the cosmos, has emerged as a genuinely cross-disciplinary field connecting astronomy, geology, chemistry and biology. At Birkbeck College, this full-time three-year BSc programme gives you a broad introduction to planetary science and exploration, encompassing the geological, astronomical and astrobiological dimensions of the subject. You will study how planets form and evolve, how their surfaces and atmospheres are shaped by internal and external forces, and what the conditions required for life as we understand it might mean for the search for habitability in the solar system and further afield. The programme develops both the physical science foundations and the interdisciplinary thinking that planetary exploration demands, and it benefits from being taught in a research-active environment with connections to the latest discoveries from missions around the solar system. Graduates from Planetary Science, Astronomy and Astrobiology programmes go on to careers in academic and applied research, science communication, the space industry, government scientific agencies and teaching. The growing commercial space sector is creating new roles in satellite technology, mission planning and data analysis. Further study at masters or doctoral level in planetary science, astrophysics, astrobiology or space exploration is the path into research careers, and the quantitative and analytical skills the degree develops are also valued in data science, technology and engineering more broadly.

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