Cockell received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Bristol in 1989 and his D.Phil.
His scientific interests have focused on astrobiology, geomicrobiology and life in extreme environments.
He has sat on numerous ESA and NASA working groups and panels focused on robotic and human space exploration.
It set up the world's first underground astrobiology laboratory in the Boulby Underground Science Laboratory, running a program MINAR (MIne Analog Research) which brought in international teams from NASA, ESA, India, and universities across the UK and internationally to study life in the deep subsurface and test planetary exploration equipment.
Scottish prisoners published two books on settlement designs for the Moon and Mars.
In 1993 Cockell piloted a modified microlight aircraft over the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia that he designed for catching moths over the canopy.
[12][13][14] The moth machine was flown during an expedition to the Kerinci-Seblat National Park which also collected plants and insects as part of a biodiversity study.
In 2022, he published "Interplanetary Liberty: Building Free Societies in the Cosmos", which is an examination of the problems for freedom beyond Earth and how to secure it.
[21] The book was winner of the best written presentation in the Sir Arthur Clarke Award 2007.
In 1992 Cockell stood as a parliamentary candidate in Huntingdon for the "Forward to Mars Party" against incumbent Prime Minister John Major.