Facilities and Services

Yes
The entrance to RAL Space's space test facilities on Harwell Campus.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

RAL Space offers state-of-the-art facilities for the design, build, and test of space hardware and instruments.​

​The facilities at RAL S​​pace have been created to meet the comprehensive and exacting needs of customers and collaborators, provide capability for the needs of the next generation of spacecraft and instruments, and to contribute to the growing community of space focused businesses, capabilities and skills located at the Harwell Campus.​​ We are certified to ISO 9001:2015​.

For more information please ​email: RAL Space Enquiries​​

No
No

Space assembly, integration and test facilities

 

  • Clean room facility at RAL Space
  • ​Hall inside the National Satellite Test Facility​​

Design, Research and Development

 

  • An Autonomous Systems robot during tests in the Atacama desert
  • Engineers working in the Concurrent Design Facility.
  • Engineers in cleanroom suits standing behind a large camera built for ISS.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​High-resolution Fourier Transform Spectrometer in our Spectroscopy Facility
  • ​​​Customers using the Laser Spectroscopy facility
  • Camera wavefront testing in our optics facilities
  • The ​​​​​​​​​​​Precision Development Facility
  • UK-China joint space workshops for key sector leaders

Manufacturing Facilities

 

Engineering

 

  • Detailed mechanical design of the Ptolemy instrument on board the Philae lander for ESA's Rosetta mission
  • Flight model of a camera on the ISS produced by our Systems Engineering Group
  • Thermal Engineers working in our clean rooms

Data Facilities

 

  • The Gaia spacecraft charting a 3D map of the Milky Way
  • The JASMIN super-computer and data centre.
  • The UK Solar System Data Centre archives include images of the Sun and sunspots

Ground Segment Facilities

 

  • RAL Space's 12m antenna
  • The Chilbolton Observatory