Extra space for Leicestershire's Magna Parva

A hi-tech firm is opening an office in Oxfordshire in a bid to win more business.

Magna Parva, of Bardon, near Coalville, which is creating instruments to help find life on Mars, has set up a small presence at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.

Director Andrew Bowyer said key customers were at the site, including the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Ministry of Defence's Centre for Defence Enterprise and the European Space Agency (ESA).

"We need to promote ourselves to these agencies," he said. "This is quite an aggressive step."

Mr Bowyer said up to five of its 22 staff would be based there at any one time.

He also said the office could be used by the region's economic development agencies and universities to help attract business to the area.

Magna is creating a "Life Marker" chip, specially-designed to withstand the scorching heat of the Martian atmosphere, which is due to form part of an ESA mission to the planet, scheduled for 2016.

The company has also helped to create specialist lens for an X-ray telescope which will be used to scan the surface of Mercury for metals. The optics are scheduled to be used in the Bepi-Columbo, an ESA mission due for launch in 2013.

"Although we already enjoy close working relationships, we are looking forward to being physically closer to some customers", said Mr Bowyer.