RAL Space

Space science and technology programme

At the forefront of UK space science research, STFC operates one of the largest space research laboratories in Europe at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

The Council plays a pivotal role, coordinating the design, development, construction and testing of many space instruments as well as providing operational instrument control facilities and receiving, processing and making available data to the research community. The Council is a main contractor to the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA and a key stakeholder for the UK Space Agency.

We work with universities, research institutes, industry and government agencies around the world to provide leadership and management, as well as satellite- and ground-based instrumentation, testing and data handling, for international missions in:

• meteorology
• earth observation
• atmospheric science
• solar and solar-terrestrial physics
• planetary science
• astronomy
• radio communications

Further information is available on the RAL Space website.