Welcome

My name is Dr Louisa Preston and I am a Lecturer in Planetary Science and Astrobiology based at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL, UK. I work in environments across the Earth, where life is able to survive our planet’s most extreme conditions, using them as blueprints for possible extra-terrestrial life forms and habitats. I have worked on projects for NASA and the Canadian, European and UK Space Agencies, am a Co-I for the PanCam instrument onboard the ExoMars 2028 Rosalind Franklin rover, and am on the science team for the LaFORGE instrument on the CSA’s LEAP lunar rover.

I am the Director of the MSSL Planetary Group’s Habitability Lab, a growing group of astrobiologists, geologists, biologists and chemists all working towards understanding the habitability potential of planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond. I welcome enquiries from enthusiastic and motivated applicants from around the world. If you are interested in joining the lab as an undergraduate or graduate student, post-doc, or wish to talk Fellowship applications, please get in touch!

Outside of academia, the only thing I enjoy more than devising ways to find life on Mars is writing about it. I have published numerous articles and academic papers, and my first book - Goldilocks and the Water Bears - is out now. I am also an avid believer in the power of education and science communication, having regularly appeared on radio and television programmes and spoken about the search for life on Mars at the TED Conference in 2013, as a TED Fellow, as well as visiting over 200 schools. If you are interested in me or a member of our team coming to speak at your school or event, please get in touch or contact MSSL directly.

Contact

Email: l.preston@ucl.ac.uk