​Research scienhtists at the University of Leicester (UL) have a long and distinguished record of discovery in space science. Every year since 1967 has seen a Leicester‐built instrument operating in space. The Space Research Centre (SRC) and its parent Department (Physics and Astronomy) have held significant roles in many space missions for space agencies including NASA, ESA, UKSA, ISRO (India), JAXA (Japan) and CNES (France), covering astronomical, planetary and Earth Observation Science (EOS) missions. The SRC is housed in the Michael Atiyah Building (MAB), which opened in three phases, in 1998, 2003 and 2011. MAB comprises office space, laboratories, cleanrooms and workshops. The SRC has state-of-the-art cleanrooms, laboratories and workshops for integration, testing​ and qualifying flight and terrestrial instrumentation and a Planetary Laboratory for testing planetary analogue materials. The University is a partner in the EU-H2020-funded ‘AHEAD’ project (‘Integrated Activities in the High Energy Astrophysics Domain’, which includes provision of access by the UK scientific community (including SMEs) to test and calibration facilities at sites around Europe via the Leicester link. The University also has a variety of additional test and calibration facilities, including: vacuum X-ray test and calibration chambers and environmental test cabinets, and related CAD and mission-analysis software systems.