Space Park Leicester to showcase science behind pioneering instruments

Representatives from Space Park Leicester will be on hand at the UK’s largest and most influential space industry event to provide a rare look at the pioneering technology behind two of their major scientific instruments earmarked to launch this spring.

Head of Commercial and Innovation Vinay Patel, Education and Outreach Officer Josh Barker, and Head of Strategic Communications and Marketing Alex Wheldon will attend Space-Comm Expo at the ExCel, London on 4-5 March and highlight both the BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument and the SMILE SXI instrument.

BepiColombo carries two X-ray spectrometers; MIXS, and SIXS (Solar Intensity X-ray Spectrometer) which will work together to measure the surface composition of Mercury.

A key component of the mission to Mercury, no one has sent an imaging X-ray telescope to any planetary body before, so MIXS developed by a Europe-wide consortium led by the University of Leicester, offers ground-breaking potential for scientific discoveries.

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on SMILE is also led by the University of Leicester. It is a wide-field X-ray telescope that uses micropore optics to spectrally map the location, shape, and motion of Earth’s magnetospheric boundaries.

The joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will be launched from Kourou, French Guiana at 06:27 UTC on Thursday, April 9, 2026. It is set to give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun.

Josh Barker said: “Space-Comm Expo Europe gives us an ideal platform to showcase the science, technology and partnerships emerging from Space Park Leicester.”

Alongside its exhibition presence, Space Park Leicester, the University of Leicester’s £100 million research, innovation and teaching hub, will use the event to launch a new Community Membership. This expanded offer sits alongside its established Partnership Programme and is intended to create more routes for organisations to participate, connect and collaborate. The new offering introduces flexible membership tiers to support start-ups, growing organisations and large established partners, giving them access to Space Park Leicester’s facilities, networks, expertise and talent.

Josh added: “The ability to demonstrate both MIXS and SXI together, while introducing a membership model that opens the ecosystem to new organisations, reflects Space Park Leicester’s commitment to supporting innovation across the sector.” To find out more about Space Park Leicester visit: www.space-park.co.uk

ENDS

For further information, please contact: Kristy Hobbs | Email: Kristy.Hobbs@ojpr.co.uk | Phone: 01604 882342

Notes to Editors:

About Space Park Leicester

Space Park Leicester is a community at the forefront of the UK space sector, established through a partnership led by the University of Leicester. A world-leading cluster for innovative research, enterprise and education in space and Earth observation, Space Park Leicester represents a collaborative hub for industry and academia to develop and grow.

Opened in Spring 2022 by British European Space Agency astronaut Major Tim Peake, Space Park Leicester provides state-of-the-art facilities for research, development, and manufacturing. It houses capabilities and companies covering an end-to-end life-cycle, from satellite design and engineering, through to downstream data and its applications. This creates unmatched opportunities for collaboration.

Space Park Leicester is a cornerstone of Leicester’s Space City cluster, dedicated to space research, production, manufacture and development, and will make Leicester a key part of the

UK’s Space Spine. Representing up to £233 million of investment, the Space City partnership includes Space Park Leicester, University of Leicester, DOCK, National Space Centre, National Space Academy and Leicester City Council. Space City is part of the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone.

Explore Space Park Leicester partnerships, missions, residents, facilities, training programmes and innovation products at: www.space-park.co.uk

Follow us at @SpaceParkLeic #SpaceParkLeicester