​Imperial College was created as a constituent college of the University of London in 1907, by merging the City and Guilds College, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science to form the Imperial College of Science and Technology, in South Kensington. On its 100th anniversary it formally seceded from the University of London to become an independent public research university, Imperial College. It is comprised of numerous departments within three Faculties: Engineering, Medicine and Natural Sciences, together with the Imperial College Business School. The space activities mostly take place in the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, part of the Physics Department, known as the Blackett Laboratory, within the Faculty of Natural Sciences.​

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. The University is happy to work with external users in a range of technical tasks, either by making the facilities accessible to external users, or by undertaking contract work by Blackett Laboratory personnel.​​​​​

The College also administers the National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) and has  several supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels.​