UK Space Facilities National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

National Physical Laboratory (NPL) - Teddington

NPL is the UK’s National Measurement Institute, providing the measurement capability that underpins the UK’s prosperity and quality of life. From new antibiotics to tackle resistance and more effective cancer treatments, to unhackable quantum communications and superfast 5G, technological advances must be built on a foundation of reliable measurement to succeed. Building on over a century’s worth of expertise, our science, engineering and technology provides this foundation and helps to make the impossible possible. We save lives, protect the environment and enable citizens to feel safe and secure, as well as support international trade and commercial innovation. As a national laboratory, our advice is always impartial and independent, meaning consumers, investors, policymakers and entrepreneurs can always rely on the work we do.

Based in Teddington, south-west London, NPL employs over 500 scientists and is home to 388 of the world’s most extensive and sophisticated laboratories. NPL also has regional bases across the UK, including at the University of Surrey, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Cambridge and the University of Huddersfield’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.

Facilities

Electromagnetic Testing
NPL runs one of the world's most comprehensive capabilities for traceable measurement of basic electromagnetic parameters at RF and Microwave frequencies.
National Physical Laboratory - Time and Frequency Group
NPL Instrumentation Design & Development
NPL Magnetic Test Facility
A low magnetic field facility has been established at NPL in which the Earth's magnetic field is cancelled to less than a nanotesla at the centre of a 3m diameter triaxial Helmholtz coil system.
NPL Radiation Test Facilities
NPL is the UK's National Measurement Institute, developing and applying the most accurate measurement standards, science and technology available and one such area, particularly important for space missions, is radiation testing.
NPL's Radiometric Calibration and Characterisation Facility
NPL is collaborating with STFC/RAL Space to establish the Centre for Calibration of Space Instrumentation as a UK National facility on the Harwell site.

The NPL range of facilities and measurement capabilities is not limited to those described above and covers a wide range of other areas such as advanced materials, quantum detection, time-and-frequency, mass, dimension and temperature metrology or acoustic measurements amongst others. As the UK centre‐of‐excellence for developing and applying the most accurate, internationally traceable, measurement standards, NPL is uniquely able to make its facilities and expertise available to the UK space community.