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This year, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê's 'Your Universe' Festival of Astronomy is running in partnership with the London Science Festival 2011.

For full listings including times, dates and Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê venues please follow the links below.

• BRIDGET, MARS ROVER (courtesy of Astrium)

On the 22 and 23 of October "Bridget", the first breadboard full-size rover developed and built as part of the ExoMars Rover Vehicle Project, will be on display in the Jeremy Bentham room at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê.

Funded by Astrium R&D, Bridget was designed to aid in the development of the flight ExoMars locomotion system, and was later used in the preliminary testing of the autonomous navigation system.

Bridget comes to Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê after an intensive trial session on the martian-like terrain of Tenerife. In this exhibit, Bridget rovers over a simulated Mars landscape controlled remotely by an operator. Bridget speed is only a few centimetres per second, but it is powerful enough to overcome severe obstacles expected on the martian soil.

Bridget plays an important role in Astrium's outreach programme to promote its activities and to increase the student uptake of STEM subjects. In particular, she demonstrates the link between theoretical engineering and real spacecraft. Bridget captures the interest of students and the general public as a whole in a way no other outreach activity does, and engages them on a number of levels.

Image: 'Bridget, Mars Rover' © Astrium

• URBAN SPUTNIK: INTERACTIVE COSMOLOGY

An exhibition by Vanessa Harden, Dr Dominic Southgate, Dr Roberto Trotta, Prof Andrew Jaffe and Dr David Clements (Imperial College London) in Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê's Old Refectory.

• IT'S A GHOST UNIVERSE OUT THERE!

Dr Francisco Diego (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Physics and Astronomy) explains why what we see through telescopes is only 4% of the Universe - the rest is a ghost!

• THE BIG BANG MACHINE: ENGINEERING THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

Prof Jon Butterworth (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Physics and Astronomy) and Dr Lyndon Evans, former Chief Scientist of the LHC, explain how CERN's giant particle collider works.

• THE SPACE SHUTTLE: FINAL MISSION & LEGACY

Dr Kevin Fong (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology) takes us behind the scenes of the Space Shuttle.

• WORKING ON MARS TIME

A lecture by Craig Leff ( Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Mullard Space Science Laboratory) who will look at the development of the daily processes used to command a rover mission

• LIFE: ORIGINS ON EARTH: AND SEARCHING THE COSMOS

Dr Lewis Dartnell (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Physics and Astronomy) and Dr Nick Lane (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Genetics, Evolution & Environment) ask "what is life?" and "where are we most likely to find ET?" in their joint lecture.

• CALLING ALL MARS EXPLORERS: FIELD TRIALLING INTERPLANETARY ROVERSÌý

Lester Waugh, engineer at Astrium, looks at how the Mars Rover model, Bridget, has helped the development of the daily processes used to command a rover mission

• THE ORIGIN OF PLANET EARTH

Prof Lars Stixrude (Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Earth Sciences) and Prof Jean-Pierre Bibring from University of Paris XI-Orsay, consider the history of the Universe and planet Earth.

• THE SPACE SHUTTLE: 30 YEARS OF SPACE FLIGHT, 30 LESSONS LEARNED

Matt Melis, NASA Glenn Research Center, gives a behind the scenes perspective on the impact analysis and testing done for the Columbia Accident Investigation and NASA's Return to Flight programs for the Space Shuttle.

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