A new standard model for physics?
19 February 2013 Last updated at 05:07 GMT
Researchers are to use the Hubble Space Telescope to study a mysterious force called dark energy.
The force is causing the expansion of the Universe to continue to accelerate rather than slow down and collapse in on itself, as current theories would suggest.
The BBC's science correspondent, Pallab Ghosh explains why modern physics is set for its next big revolution in thinking.
Partly filmed at the Geffrye Museum, London