Charles S. Cockell is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His scientific research includes the study of life in extreme environments, the habitability of extraterrestrial environments, and human space exploration. He has worked for NASA and the British Antarctic Survey and spent many seasons in Antarctica and the High Arctic. He received his doctorate in molecular biophysics from the University of Oxford and his BSc from the University of Bristol. As well as over 300 scientific papers and numerous popular science books, including Space on Earth, which made the case for the indivisible links between space exploration and environmentalism, he has written a number of papers and edited books on the subject of extraterrestrial liberty.