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Postcards from the Past

QinetiQ’s space heritage is an ongoing story of ‘firsts’.

Photo of space equipment being pushing into a testing chamber

QinetiQ’s long and successful history in space has been founded on the insight and specialist expertise of its growing team of scientists, engineers and researchers. Since its formative days, the team has pushed boundaries, opened new doors and harnessed new technologies to extend capabilities and improve performance of evermore complex and sophisticated spacecraft and systems. Significantly, however, the company continues to rise to new commercial challenges and opportunities with a strength and resolve founded on the successful delivery of so many innovative solutions that have not only helped to fulfil mission outcomes and stood the test of space travel... but also the test of time!

Postcards from the Past Brochure
Postcards from the Past stamp mark
Her Majesty the Queen during her visit to Farnborough in June 1966
Pushing boundaries in humankind’s evolving space odyssey
Here at QinetiQ, our pioneering technologies and expertise have featured prominently in the space success story ever since the 1960s.
Black Arrow programme launch
A fertile ground for scientific advancement
In the 1960s the UK was blessed with some of the most innovative and progressive scientific minds in the world of space, science and technology, with many working at the RAE at Farnborough.
Satellite in a test chamber
UK firsts
In tandem with the ongoing work on launcher vehicles and ground-breaking moves in the development of ion thruster technologies, the RAE team led the UK’s first satellite research programme.
Technician working on a satellite
From spacecraft protection and cutting-edge propulsion to microsatellites
Coinciding with a significant resurgence in space activity at RAE/DRA/DERA during the late 1980s, a series of Space Technology Research Vehicle (STRV) microsatellites were developed and built for the UK MOD.