Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock interview: The Sky at Night presenter on Spock, quantum spanners - and her plan to retire to Mars

Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and runs Science Innovation Ltd, which aims to engage schoolchildren in space science

My main goal in life is to get people excited about science There are so many kids with so much potential. I was in remedial class at school [struggling with dyslexia], and I felt written off. So I feel that if I can reach some of those kids and get them excited about something, they'll know that they're not written off, and science can be life-changing for them; it was for me.

Many schoolkids are still surprised to see a black female scientist talking to them When I go to speak, they're like, you're black and female – I cannot compute! Kids from minority backgrounds can set their expectations low, but if you know that someone else of your race or gender is doing something amazing, perhaps you will aspire to do more.

Spock was my role model when I was a child He was a distant, unemotional person who stripped out everything but hard facts; being logical appealed to me as a child because my life was quite tumultuous then: I went to 13 different schools [due to a series of fierce custody battles]. I'm still a huge Trekkie.

The Hubble Telescope has helped our understanding of the universe We just ran a feature on the top five images of space on The Sky at Night, and my favourite was the Hubble Deep Field picture. It was not the most beautiful, but it was unexpected. The telescope was pointed at what we thought was an empty sky for 10 days, on a long exposure. And when they developed it they actually found 3,000 galaxies there, going back in time by 13 billion years, to the early universe.

I need to suspend my disbelief when watching sci-fi films I always watch one after doing a science talk, to calm me down. But sometimes I watch it and think, oh dear! I don't want to slate any recent ones, but I was watching [1956's] Forbidden Planet and at one point a character mentions getting hold of a quantum mechanic, and someone brings a spanner : when you're on the quantum level, a spanner really doesn't come into it.

Retiring to Mars was my retirement plan for many years For a long time the driving force in my life has been to get out there and reach the stars – or at least to the Moon. I applied to the European Space Agency to train as an astronaut, and I even made a film about sending a community out to Mars, in 2007. But now I have a five-year-old daughter, I feel a lot more tethered.

The only way world peace could happen would be the threat of an alien takeover When I was a child, I was an optimist – I thought world peace could happen. Now I'm beginning to think it can't. Six years ago I went to Syria to do some talks on space and two years later the whole place collapsed, and I think about how the children I spoke to are probably in dire straits now. The world seems so fractious and unstable these days.

Theme parks have become my obsession I used to love going on upside-down rides but, like a number of women after pregnancy, I can't handle rides any more. Since I've had my daughter, I go to parks all the time – having a child is a great excuse to go – but I feel sick if I go on anything more energetic than the teacup ride.

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE, 47, is a space scientist, who has worked on projects including the Aeolus weather satellite and the Gemini telescope in Chile. She is also co-presenter of the long-running astronomy programme 'The Sky at Night', and runs Science Innovation Ltd, which aims to engage schoolchildren in space science. Her latest talk on space, for the Edinburgh International Television Festival, is available to hear online at bit.ly/1FGdA2w