UK Space Facilities Specialist Test Facilities

Specialist Test Facilities

AAC Clyde Space
AAC Clyde Space’s in-house facilities are fully committed to its own extensive manufacturing and test programmes and so the company does not offer stand-alone testing services, instead primarily offering these as subsets of larger programmes.
ABSL Enersys
ABSL has a World-class suite of design, build and testing facilities for cell screening, matching and acceptance testing for the production of space-qualified Lithium-ion batteries.
Airbus Defence & Space – Portsmouth Site
The Airbus Portsmouth site has a very extensive range of space development and test facilities which effectively constitute a one-stop-shop for many of its own programmes.
Airbus DS Stevenage
The Airbus Stevenage site has an extensive range of space development and test facilities which effectively constitute a one-stop-shop for many of its own programmes.
Cardiff University
The AIG has excellent facilities, potentially available to external users. AIG has significant experience of collaboration with industry and research institutions in the UK and abroad.
ESR Technologies
ESR Technology is active in a range of markets covering space and terrestrial industries and specialises in tribology, the field of engineering related to friction, wear and lubrication.
Honeywell (formerly COM DEV) - Aylesbury and Edinburgh
Honeywell (COM DEV) is generally well-equipped for its own purposes and can access those external facilities needed to support its RF component, subsystem manufacturing and test activities.
Imperial College - London
Both the Magnetometer Calibration Facility and the EOCF are world class calibration facilities able to support a full range of active characterisation projects for Blackett Laboratory physicists.
Magna Parva
Magna Parva’s manufacturing, environmental, validation and testing facilities are available to external users under suitable contractual arrangements.
Mars Space (MSL) - Southampton
The Mars Space EP Lab facilities are private, but are available for use by 3rd parties, subject to availability, and via normal commercial arrangements.
Nammo UK (Moog ISP) - Westcott
Nammo’s high altitude and sea‐level test cells at Westcott are all used to support in‐house rocket engine development projects, but there is some capacity for taking on external work, subject to availability and normal commercial arrangements.
Open University
The OU Department of Physical Sciences has excellent facilities to support its in-house planetary research programmes. It is happy to collaborate with external users, subject to availability of resources and normal commercial arrangements.
Queens University Belfast
QUB has excellent facilities to support both its in-house research programmes and external users, subject to normal commercial terms.
RAL Space
As part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, it is clearly part of RAL Space’s mission to provide world-class space development and test facilities for the UK space community.
Reaction Engines Ltd at Culham Science Centre
Reaction Engines is a UK-based company formed in 1989 to design and develop the technologies needed for a new class of innovative hypersonic propulsion system – the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE).
Resonate Testing Ltd
Resonate Testing is an ISO17025:2017 accredited test facility providing environmental testing for the space industry, which includes vibration, shock, SRS shock and more.
Roxel (Safran-MBDA), Kidderminster
Roxel’s rocket motor design, manufacturing and testing facilities, which were established principally for its own development programmes make it ideally positioned to support external customers in all aspects of rocket propulsion systems.
Spur Electron Limited - Havant
Spur Electron’s expertise and facilities for EEE components and space electronics manufacturing at its Havant site constitute a world-class resource for the UK space community.
Swansea University
Swansea University has long-standing and notable experience in collaboration with industry and research institutions in the UK and abroad.
Thales Alenia Space – UK, Harwell, Bristol & Belfast
TAS UK is a member of a major European Large Scale Integrator, and as such has access to many European AIV facilities. It is watching developments of AIV facilities at the Harwell site with great interest.
TWI Technology Centre (Wales), Port Talbot
The TWI Technology Centre in Wales offers truly World-class state-of-the-art facilities for research, development and application of NDT techniques which have direct application for the space sector.
UK Astronomy Technology Centre
The UK ATC has excellent facilities for development and test of space instrumentation as evidenced by a number of advanced technology space programmes it has worked on including MIRI and SPIRE;
Ulster University - Belfast & Jordanstown
Ulster University offers excellent facilities and capabilities across advanced engineering, advanced materials technologies, composites, fire testing and material characterisation, and computer science.
University College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL)
MSSL's facilities are mainly used for internal purposes, but there is some spare capacity to support external customers under usual commercial arrangements.
University of Oxford - Department of Physics
The Department’s environmental test facilities are adequate for its in-house programmes. The facilities are available for use by external customers, subject to appropriate planning and commercial terms.
University of Surrey
The University is a centre of Excellence for space and telecommunications research