David Rothery is professor of planetary geosciences at the Open University ,where he chairs a level 2 module Planetary Science and the Search for Life and a level 1 module Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis. He serves on the Open University's Senate. From 1999 to 2004 he worked on the Beagle2 project led by Colin Pillinger. In 2006 he was appointed U.K. lead scientist for the MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer) on the joint European Space Agency/JAXA mission to Mercury named BepiColombo.He leads the European Space Agency's Mercury Surface & Composition Working Group in preparation for the BepiColombo mission,which was successfully launched on 20 October 2018. He has been a guest several times on The Sky at Night, and is frequently featured or quoted in TV, radio, print and online news stories about planetary science, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.