A big milestone for the @europeanspaceagency 's Ariel mission! 🎉🪐
Ariel’s payload structural model has completed its mechanical test campaign at the National Satellite Test Facility - a crucial step towards a mission that will study the atmospheres of around 1000 distant worlds.
Before any space hardware can fly, we usually build a full‑size structural model to prove the design is sound. Ariel’s has now passed its preliminary tests, showing it can withstand the intense forces of launch.
Next up: assembling the engineering model - a fully representative version of the flight hardware, complete with electronics and subsystems. Watch this space 👀
With funding from @spacegovuk , UK teams are playing a leading role in Ariel’s science and engineering. RAL Space leads the payload consortium, coordinating contributions with partners across Europe, the US, Canada and Japan.
Meanwhile, @lifeatkings is leading the mission science, helping ensure Ariel will answer fundamental questions about these mysterious worlds. 🪐
In this month’s episode, we talk to Jane Hurley from RAL Space about how the space sector shapes daily life. Then, from our live event at the Chester Astronomy Society in March, we listen to Jodcasters Phoebe and Josh talk about their research.
Listen on our website, Spotify or Apple podcasts. Links in bio!
Image credit: RAL Space, Description: The NSTF's large space test chamber.
#astronomy #podcast #science #physics #space
Happy #EarthDay! Here are 5 ways our science is helping our Planet 🌍
From tracking Earth’s breath to turning air into clean fuel, STFC scientists are driving real solutions to protect our planet.
Science doesn’t just studying our planet — it can help protect it!
🔗 Brand new @medium story linked in bio.
@ral.space | @isisneutronmuon | @hartreecentre
#Science #Technology #Environment #EarthDay
Who else has been mesmerised by the Moon this week? 🌒🙋
We’re still blown away by the incredible images coming from the #ArtemisII mission. Our director (and former lunar scientist!) Dr Sarah Beardsley summed it up perfectly:
“The successful Artemis II mission marks a major step forward in humanity’s return to deep space, showcasing international collaboration, advanced technology, and the renewed ambition to explore beyond Earth orbit with astronauts aboard. Beyond the historic flight itself, the programme will deliver lasting benefits for society by inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and driving innovation in technologies that improve everyday life on Earth.
Missions like this help to demonstrate the impact of sustained technical capability and the importance of space in our everyday lives - research and development taking place here in Oxfordshire in organisations like RAL Space and the Harwell Space Cluster form an essential part of the wider global effort to push our understanding of space further.”
If you need us, we’ll be buried in @nasa ’s image gallery...
We have a launch date! @spacex 's Transporter-16 is targeting no earlier than Monday 30 March for lift-off, carrying a couple of small but mighty cubesats supported by our teams:
🛰️ SPOQC (1st image): A demonstrator mission bringing together four UK universities and RAL Space to strengthen the UK’s leadership in space-based quantum communications. (Image credit: @isispace.nl )
🧭 Io-1 (2nd image): Part of the global #MagQuest competition, Io-1 will improve how we map and measure Earth’s magnetic field. Led by Iota Technology, our teams supported the test, manufacture and assembly of the science payload. (Image credit: Iota Technology)
We'll be tuning in on the livestream, which you can find on SpaceX.com 🚀
In a few years, the ARIEL mission will study the atmospheres of a thousand planets in our galaxy, revealing their compositions, the presence of clouds, and even tracking changing weather. But before this cosmic adventure begins, the revolutionary telescope needs to be tested. Now, IFLScience brings you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how the mission is shaping up.
Our space test chambers range from half a metre to 7 metres in diameter, and are used to recreate the temperature extremes of space here on Earth. Inside, spacecraft and instruments are effectively baked and chilled in cycles that can last for months, proving they can survive the unforgiving conditions beyond our atmosphere. 🚀
For the very first customer use of our largest space test camber, we recently baked a key flight structure for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover mission. This hardware forms part of the Mechanical, Thermal and Propulsion System provided by @airbus_space , critical components that will ultimately deliver the rover safely to the surface of Mars.
We usually bake hardware to test its resilience to extreme temperatures, but this time the mission was a little different. Planetary protection policies are international guidelines designed to prevent contamination of other solar system bodies, such as the Moon and Mars, with Earth-based life.
We’re always rigorous about cleanliness when sending hardware into space, but when you’re searching for life on Mars, it’s absolutely critical not to bring any with you. Baking the platform in our chamber was an initial step for Airbus to carry out further planetary protection processes back in Stevenage to ensure the lander and its components are clean enough for Mars.
🌩️ Traditional weather satellites are huge, and very expensive to develop and launch. They also typically revisit the same spot once a day, making it tricky to track fast-moving, high-impact weather like tropical storms.
💡 However, a new generation of technology is working to address these challenges. Earlier this year, a shoebox-sized sensor launched into orbit, building on an idea that began within RAL Space.
🚀 Led by Spire Global, the Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder (HyMS) packs far higher frequency resolution than traditional weather satellites into a compact design. Its data can enhance existing observing systems and strengthen numerical weather prediction, especially over data‑sparse regions such as oceans and remote areas.
🌎 This is a major step toward more accurate, more timely weather forecasts to support communities and industry around the world.
(The second image shows HyMS technology in the lab at RAL Space.)
For the last four years, we’ve been proud to partner with @joneggingtrust to support their Blue Skies Programme, helping young people build confidence, resilience, and aspirations through hands‑on experiences.
Earlier this month, 11 students from the programme spent the day with us at Chilbolton Observatory. Alongside exploring our weather and space surveillance facilities, the students put their leadership and communication skills into practice, and even learned how to operate our 25‑metre radar antenna. 📡
They dived into astronomy data from the LOFAR station, analysed live weather data, created and filmed their own weather forecasts, and built rain gauges that will continue collecting data over the coming weeks. They also had the chance to chat with two of our early‑career colleagues – Eve, an industrial placement student, and Josh, an apprentice – to hear first‑hand what a future in STEM can look like.
We had a great time working with the students and hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did! ☀️
Another update from the @arieltelescope 🪐⬇️
The payload structural model has just completed its mass properties tests, a key step in understanding total mass, centre of gravity, and moments of inertia with extremely high precision.
These measurements tell engineers vital information about how the spacecraft will behave during launch and throughout its journey to orbit. For Ariel, that journey will take it 1.5 million kilometres from Earth to its operational home. Knowing the spacecraft’s “resistance” to rotation is essential for fine-tuning how it will be controlled once in space.
With both acoustic testing and mass properties now complete, the team is gearing up for the next major milestone: vibration testing to simulate the intense conditions of rocket launch. Stay tuned! 🚀
🛰️ Before we log off for the festive break, some reassurance from Chilbolton Observatory to satellite operators: our advanced satellite tracking radar has confirmed that all reindeer in the skies tomorrow evening are expected to be well below Low Earth Orbit, so we aren’t expecting any collision alerts – festive ones, anyway! 📡🎅
🎄 Wishing our followers a very happy festive period and all the best for the New Year! We’ll see you in 2026. 🌟
🚀 With integration complete, the Ariel payload’s structural model has now moved across the road to the National Satellite Test Facility, ready for its next challenge: acoustic testing.
The first few minutes of a rocket launch unleash an intense wall of sound that can shake spacecraft to their core. In our dynamics facility, this is recreated using an array of giant speakers and amplifiers, designed to replicate the extreme acoustic environment before we get to the launchpad.
🪐 The @europeanspaceagency 's Ariel mission will study the atmospheres of around 1,000 distant exoplanets, helping answer fundamental questions about how planets form and evolve. The structural model itself won’t fly to space, but it plays a crucial role ensuring the payload's design can withstand the violent conditions of launch, paving the way for the flight model that will journey beyond Earth.
