RAL Cryogenics and Magnetics facilities listing
Partially verified listing. The current Cryogenics page confirms departmental laboratory capabilities but does not allocate them to the exact RAL facility. Legacy facility URLs redirect to the department homepage. Local services, numerical equipment limits and accreditation remain unverified.
This partial listing retains STFC Technology’s current Cryogenics capability and enquiry context alongside the listed RAL campus address. The checked sources do not map the department’s test rigs to this exact RAL facility. Contact STFC to confirm the local site, service and equipment before planning work.
Reviewed by Arc · About this review
Key facts
- Current department capability context
- STFC Technology’s Cryogenics page lists cleanrooms, thermal-vacuum chambers and microvibration characterisation. These are departmental capabilities without a verified RAL rig allocation. Design and commissioning of magnetic systems do not establish magnetic testing.
- Listed RAL campus address
- STFC Technology’s contact page lists Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX and +44 1235 445000. It separately lists Daresbury Laboratory. RAL Space corroborates the RAL campus but is a separate department enquiry context.
- Legacy redirects and project distinction
- Both legacy Cryogenics and Magnetics facility/service URLs now redirect to the department homepage. The current Ariel project names the group and describes tests already performed on a demonstration cooler, without identifying their local rig address. Redirects do not establish that a historical facility closed.
- Published enquiry routes
- The current Cryogenics page publishes Martin Crook with martin.crook@stfc.ac.uk. This verifies a published enquiry contact without a job-title claim. The department also publishes technology@stfc.ac.uk and its contact form. The RAL phone is a general campus route.
Testing capabilities
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Equipment and published limits
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Access and contact
Use the current published Cryogenics enquiry martin.crook@stfc.ac.uk, general technology@stfc.ac.uk or STFC Technology’s contact form. The listed RAL campus phone is +44 1235 445000. Ask the department to identify the exact local test site, supported method, equipment range, access and report before planning work. These routes do not verify test availability at this listing.
Standards and accreditation
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
What to confirm with the facility
- Current departmental cleanroom, thermal-vacuum and microvibration statements do not locate each rig at RAL. The checked pages do not verify the imported numerical room/chamber dimensions, cleanroom classes, local pressure/leak/propulsion methods or magnetic testing.
- Ariel demonstration-cooler tests are published project context without an exact local rig address or dated test period. Spacecraft cooling requirements, planned qualification tests and prototype outcomes do not establish present bookable facility limits.
- Provide the proposed item, dimensions and mass, temperature/vacuum or microvibration need, measurement/report requirements and timing so STFC can confirm a suitable local arrangement.
Before requesting a test
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Frequently asked questions
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Related testing facilities
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Further reading
Public information not available. Contact test facility provider for more information.
Sources and review
Reviewed by Arc on 1 October 2026 in Europe/London using eight fresh official captures and one bounded linked Ariel follow-up within those captures. Both legacy Cryogenics and Magnetics pages redirect to STFC Technology home, with originals and redirect provenance retained. The current Cryogenics capability page verifies qualitative department laboratory context and a current published Martin Crook enquiry link, without a job-title claim or RAL rig allocation. The department contact separately lists RAL and Daresbury, and RAL Space corroborates the RAL campus only. The Ariel project names the group and describes past demonstration-cooler tests but still gives no local test address or exact test dates. Its mission requirements, future qualification work and outcomes are not current facility limits. Local capability/equipment/accreditation fields and inherited numerical cleanroom/chamber/space descriptions are cleared. No leak, pressure, propulsion or magnetic test methods are inferred. All original bodies, headers, requested/effective URLs, titles, canonicals, publisher metadata and visible inspections are retained. Publisher 2025/2026 dates, sidebar news and project chronology are separate from this review. Four prior originals remain unchanged. The RAL Space contact raw body equals fresh, while three other pairs differ in raw bytes but full normalised visible text and publisher metadata agree, without an all-link equality claim. Imported coordinates are cleared and schema emits no facility, operator or Service entities.
Arc publishes this directory entry and does not operate the test facility. Suggest a correction to Arc with a supporting source.
Requested exact legacy Cryogenics and Magnetics Facilities page redirects to STFC Technology homepage. Home capability statements are departmental, without local rig allocation. Original redirect headers and requested/effective/canonical URLs retained. Redirect does not prove historical facility closure.
Requested exact legacy Cryogenics and Magnetics service URL redirects to STFC Technology homepage. It no longer supplies the old numeric facility list. Redirect is not evidence of absence/closure. Department enquiry route retained separately.
Homepage identifies Technology Department within STFC and a wider multi-site remit. General technology@stfc.ac.uk and contact form are published, no exact RAL test access inferred. Department capability/product claims are not assigned to specific local rigs.
Current RAL Space contact identifies Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Campus Didcot OX11 0QX and general campus phone. Separate ralspaceenquiries route and small/large space-test links are not substituted for Cryogenics and Magnetics facilities.
Capabilities - STFC Technology
Index links current Cryogenics page, separate from RAL-specific manufacturing and detector entries. No site or numerical test range supplied for Cryogenics.
Current department page lists cleanrooms, thermal vacuum chambers and micro vibration characterisation, no exact RAL/Daresbury location or numerical range/classes. Current Martin Crook mailto is a published enquiry only, without role claim. Magnetic/superconducting system manufacture/commissioning is not magnetic testing.
Current contact separately lists Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Campus Didcot Oxfordshire OX11 0QX and Daresbury WA4 4AD. Form and general +44 (0)1235 445000 campus phone do not allocate Cryogenics rigs to RAL or verify test availability.
Neon Joule-Thomson Cryocooler for the Ariel Space Mission - STFC Technology
One final parent-approved linked official follow-up names Cryogenics and Magnetics Group and already performed demonstration-cooler tests. It still supplies no RAL rig/site allocation. Planned qualification tests and spacecraft 40K/50–55K/contamination specifications are project context, not current facility limits. Original publisher 14 December 2025/5 May 2026 dates separate from undated test chronology.