Welcome to the RAL Space website

RAL Space, based at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), carries out an exciting range of world-class space research and technology development. We have significant involvement in over 200 space missions and are at the forefront of UK Space Research.

Our 200 staff are dedicated to supporting the programmes of the STFC and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC (link opens in a new window)), as well as undertaking a large number of space projects for UK and overseas agencies, universities and industrial companies.

We work alongside the UK Space Agency (link opens in a new window) who co-ordinate UK civil space activities.

We undertake world-leading space research and technology development, provide space test and ground-based facilities, design and build instruments, analyse and process data and operate S- and X-band ground-station facilities, as well as lead conceptual studies for future missions. We work with space and ground-based groups around the world.

Latest News

16 May 2013

The Sun unleashes four large 'X-class' solar flares
The Sun is approaching its peak of activity this year and is now littered with sunspot groups, which are the regions where the solar magnetic field emerges into its atmosphere providing the energy for that activity......
07 May 2013

Herschel finds hot gas on the menu for Milky Way's black hole
Astronomers using Europe's Herschel Space Observatory have spotted a cloud of incredibly hot gas very close to the supermassive black hole that lies at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy....
23 April 2013

Herschel - the mission that refused to die!
The Herschel Space Observatory launched in 2009 had a projected lifetime of around 3.5 years, after which its supply of on-board liquid Helium would expire. The mission was predicted to end over a month ago but is still going strong with little evidence that the Helium is.....