The team supports customers to understand the dynamic behaviour of satellites in response to a wide range of stimuli to replicate its complete journey to orbit. Digital models that predict behaviour can be validated with physical testing under a range of conditions enabling complete characterisation of its dynamic behaviour.
Small-scale test facilities
RAL Space provides a range of small‑scale environmental test facilities and cleanroom spaces to support the development, assembly and verification of space‑bound hardware. These facilities accommodate components, payloads, instruments and small satellites.
We offer capabilities for thermal vacuum, and mechanical testing to meet the comprehensive needs of our collaborators. RAL Space provide test and development capability for the needs of the next generation of spacecraft and instruments to contribute to the growing space indsutry.
Access to expertise
Our environmental test team operates both the small‑ and large‑scale test facilities at RAL Space. They bring extensive experience from UK and international missions and work closely with internal project teams and external partners to support reliable, mission‑ready hardware.
Certification and standards
- Facilities certified to ISO 9001
- Vibration testing suite, Space Test Chambers 2 and 3 certified to EN 9100 and ECSS
Access to facilities
As the UK’s national space laboratory, we occupy a unique and independent position between industry, academia, and government. The small-scale test facilities have supported a wide range missions and projects and have been engineered for use by RAL Space teams as well as external organisations.
Flexible access
Facilities can be booked individually, allowing partners to select the scale and type of testing that best meets their requirements.
Thermal Vacuum Facilities
From telecommunication satellites to components, our vacuum test chambers can replicate a variety of space environments to meet your test requirements.
RAL Space has 11 vacuum test chambers ranging from less than half a meter to 7 meters in diameter, designed to simulate the vacuum and thermal conditions in space.
Each of the Space Test Chambers (STC) Suites has a similar layout, it consists of a vacuum chamber with doors either end that open into cleanrooms. At the side of the chamber, linking the two cleanrooms is an additional cleanroom that provides access to the chamber feedthrough ports.
Thermal Vacuum Facility Specifications
Up to 1m diameter thermal vacuum chambers
- Clean rooms standard of class 6 (1,000)
- No overhead cranes
- Access doors – size 2.0m wide x 2.4 m high
Small thermal vacuum chambers
- Three chamber suites, each accommodating multiple chambers
- Overall size range 0.5m diameter to 1 m diameter
- Temperature range -180°C to +100°C
- Base pressure <1E-5 mbar
- Dedicated provision for EGSE
Medium sized thermal vacuum chambers
- 2.6m diameter, 5.4m long usable space, with vibration isolation
- Temperature range -185°C to +135°C
- Base pressure <1E-5 mbar
- Dedicated OGSE rooms
- Direct EGSE access areas
- Dry pumping system throughout
- Chambers open into cleanrooms for contamination control
Mid-large sized thermal vacuum chambers
Designed for optical calibration campaigns, our space test chamber suites 2+3 are suitable for testing of small to medium sized spacecraft, or large instrument payloads.
Each chamber is arranged over a dedicated seismic block, allowing the space hardware inside to be de-coupled from the building, providing a quiet environment for precise instrument calibration. In addition, each chamber suite has a clean room in front of the chamber, an optically dark clean room to the rear of the chamber and an EGSE space to the side.
Customers using these chambers will also benefit from access to a dedicated customer office for the duration of the test campaign.
- 4.7m diameter, 6m long usable space in ISO 6 class clean room (with a smaller area at class 5) with vibration isolation for independent mounting rails within the chamber.
- Clean room crane capacity: 5tonnes, clean room crane height: 9 meters
- Access door to the clean room: 6m wide x 6.1m high
- 46 thermal zones, allowing 90K to 393K at 0.8K/min
- Base pressure <1E-5 mbar with a fully secondary pumping
- Payload DAS channels: 500 x T-type TC
- Dedicated Optical Ground Support Equipment (OGSE) room
- Dedicated EGSE room with access from clean room or corridor
- 40 DC power supply (0-32 V & 0-5 A)
- RGA and TQCM available
Overall dimensions
| Chamber | Working Diameter | Working Length | Working Volume |
| 1 | 0.6m | 0.8 m | 0.2 m3 |
| 2 | 1.0m | 1.7m | 1.3m3 |
| 4 | 1.1m | 1.5m | 1.3m3 |
| 5 | 1.1m | 2.1m | 1.9m3 |
| 6 | 0.9m | 0.4m | 0.3m3 |
| 7 | 1.5m | 1.3m | 2.1m3 |
| 8 | 0.4m | 0.4m | 0.1m3 |
| Space Test Chamber 1 | 2.7m | 5.5m | 30.6m3 |
| Space Test Chamber 2 & 3 | 4.7m | 6.0m | 104.0m3 |
| Large Space Test Chamber | 7.0m | 12.0m | 416.8m3 |
Outgassing Test Facility
Designed to perform outgassing tests in accordance with ECSS‑Q‑70‑02C, the RAL Space Outgassing Test Facility has been included in ESA’s list of trusted laboratories as of 2025. The facility is used to determine Total Mass Loss (TML), Recovered Mass Loss (RML), Collected Volatile Condensable Material (CVCM), and Water Vapour Regained (WVR), in order to assess vacuum compatibility for newly developed materials or when their outgassing characteristics are unknown. There are 12 sample compartments for testing, 9 of which can be used per run and 3 must stay empty for cleanliness control.
Dynamics Facilities
RAL Space offer dynamics testing for satellites and space components in our vibration suite for testing smaller payloads
The same team of highly experienced technicians operate all the dynamics capabilities, backed by specialist scientific and engineering expertise.
Dynamics Facility Specifications
Vibration facility
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- Shaker thrust 67kN
- Shaker load capacity 200kg
- Maximum test item envelope 500mm cube
- Crane capacity is 1 tonne
- Crane hook height is 5.388m
- Access doors – size 3.5m wide x 3.5m high
- 3 axis sine, random and shock capabilities
- 64 channels of monitoring
- 64 mm stroke
- Located in an area that is not a cleanroom but broadly meets ISO 8 class and test items can be bagged in an adjacent cleanroom if necesary.
Pyroshock facility
The pyro-shock tests simulate separation of the satellite from the launch vehicle adapter.
- Pyro-shock simulator rig for sub-system tests (<50 kg and 500mm cube envelope)
- Shock specified as a shock response spectrum 500g – 5000g
Our capabilities
Decades of experience across assembly, integration and test of space hardware
RAL Space brings together experienced engineers, controlled procedures and dedicated facilities to integrate complex instruments and subsystems, verify performance and providing evidence for mission readiness.
Use our test facilities
If you’re interested in using our test facilities for your space project, get in touch with our team.
