As part of International Space week, some of our students got the fantastic opportunity to view and handle rare samples of moon and martian rocks as well as meteorites last week during a series of enrichment sessions within the Science Department.

The rare samples were provided by NASA and the UK's Science and Technology Council. They included a 1.2 billion year old piece of Mars rock, a 4.3 billion year old nickel meteorite, parts of the Argentinian Campo de Cielo and Chondrite meteorites, as well as samples collected by the Apollo 11 moon landing team in 1969.

Samples like these can tell us a great deal about the planets from which they originate, but there is still much to learn. NASA and the STFC hope this will encourage students to become the next generation of astronomers.

Our students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions, as did some of our staff!

Space samples