Space can often feel distant, which is very understandable since the Kármán line (where space is usually defined as starting) sits 100km above the Earth’s surface. But many applications of space technology are closer to home than you may think.

Satellites orbiting us provide a variety of services, such as GPS navigation, weather forecasting, and internet access. Technologies developed for astronauts on the International Space Station have become everyday items for us here on Earth. Did you know that memory foam pillows and wireless headphones were originally developed for use in space?

Some of the wonders of space are even further afield than the satellites in Earth’s orbit. Humanity has landed rovers 130 million km away on the surface of Mars, detected planetary systems that are a few lightyears away, and taken photos of structures like the Pillars of Creation which exist thousands of lightyears away. If you’re like me and can’t get enough of outer space, you may want to engage with something that helps bring these wonders back to Earth. Here are 5 brilliant, free ways you can get your fill of all things space.

1. Identify new objects in the Zooniverse

The Zooniverse project gives people the opportunity to contribute to scientific discoveries in space. You can get involved as a citizen scientist, where you will get access to data and images of interstellar objects ranging from galaxies to exoplanets. You’ll be looking at real, scientific data, trying to spot patterns and peculiarities that will support ongoing research in space. This project is open to everyone, whether you want to help advance space science, or just want to spend hours looking at gorgeous photos of galaxies. You don’t need any specialist knowledge or qualifications – you just need to be happy to look at lots of space stuff!

2. Explore the Night Sky with ESASky

Is your sky too bright or cloudy for stargazing and astronomy? ESASky is an open, online application that provides full access to the entire sky. You can access it on any device, and use it to surf through the cosmos, seeing visualisations of so many interstellar and scientific objects, including photos taken from satellite missions and telescopes based here on Earth. You won’t just see what can be seen with the human eye either. ESASky can visualise phenomena taking place across the range of the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio wave bursts from distant galaxies. You can zoom in to the surface of stars and see the planets in a new level of detail.

3. Cheer on our intrepid explorers, the Mars Rovers (and helicopter!)

Several rovers now live on the surface of Mars, helping us to collect invaluable information about what the planet is like now, what it used to be like, and whether or not it could sustain human life in the future. In 2021, NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars bringing with it a small helicopter called Ingenuity which became the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. This is a huge achievement that we should be celebrating here on Earth! NASA has a dedicated site for its Mars missions, and if you want to celebrate Ingenuity you can download various posters, explore the helicopter in Augmented Reality and dive deep into all of the mission information.

4. Send your code to space with Astro Pi’s Mission Zero

Interested in programming, and understanding how astronauts do some of their scientific experiments in space? The Raspberry Pi Foundation and ESA’s Mission Zero programme offers young people aged 19 and under the chance to have their code run in space! You will be tasked with writing a program to display a personalised image on an Astro Pi computer on board the International Space Station for the astronauts to see as they go about their daily tasks, using a reading from the Astro Pi’s colour and luminosity sensor to set the colour of the background. Your code will actually run in outer space, and you’ll get a certificate to prove it!

5. Discover the huge range of satellites in ESA’s Science Fleet

Remember those satellites I mentioned earlier? Well there are even more in space than just those in Earth’s orbit! To help us understand exactly what those satellites are doing, the European Space Agency has put together a 3D model of their entire fleet of science satellites that you can explore. From the Solar Orbiter observing our Sun, to the Hubble Space Telescope exploring the deep universe, you can play with detailed models of all these satellites and find out more about their missions. If you want to experiment with these models yourself, you can even download them in various formats for use on your own device.

Know of any other free and exciting space resources? Leave them in the comments below!