Editing Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station

{{Short description|Radiocommunication site in Cornwall, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Observatory}}
 
'''Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station''' is a large [[radiocommunication]] site located on [[Goonhilly Downs]] near [[Helston]] on the [[The Lizard|Lizard peninsula]] in [[Cornwall]], [[England]]. Owned by Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd<ref>[http://www.goonhilly.org/ Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd]</ref> under a 999-year lease from [[BT Group plc]], it was at one time the largest [[satellite]] [[earth station]] in the world, with more than 30 communication antennas and dishes in use. The site also links into [[transatlantic telephone cable|undersea cable lines]].

==History==
Its first dish, Antenna One (dubbed "Arthur"), was built in 1962 to link with [[Telstar]]. It was the first open [[Parabolic antenna|parabolic design]] and is 25.9 metres (85 feet) in diameter and weighs 1,118 [[tonne]]s. After [[Pleumeur-Bodou Ground Station]] ([[Brittany]]) which received the first live transatlantic television broadcasts from the United States via the Telstar satellite at 0H47 GMT on 11 July 1962, Arthur received his first video in the middle of the same day. It is now a Grade II [[listed structure]] and is therefore protected.

The site has also played a key role in communications events such as the [[Muhammad Ali]] fights, the [[Olympic Games]], the [[Apollo 11]] Moon landing, and 1985's [[Live Aid]] concert.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-31823167|title=Goonhilly in Cornwall takes off on space missions|work=[[BBC News]]|date=11 March 2015|access-date=9 August 2015}}</ref>

==Statistics==
The site's largest dish, dubbed "Merlin", has a diameter of 32 metres (105 feet). Other dishes include Guinevere, Tristan, and Isolde after characters in [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] legend, much of which takes place in Cornwall.

The earth station is powered by the [[National Grid (Great Britain)|National Grid]]. If power fails, all essential equipment will run off huge batteries for up to 20 minutes, during which time four one-megawatt diesel generators will take over.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}} The nearby [[wind generator]] farm is not part of the complex.

==Closure==
On 12 September 2006, BT announced it would shut down satellite operations at Goonhilly in 2008, and move them to [[Madley Communications Centre]] in [[Herefordshire]], making that centre BT's only earth station.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/SATELLITE_Station_Goonhilly.html|title=Goonhilly Downs, Helston, Cornwall, England, UK Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station|publisher=thelivingmoon.com|access-date=9 August 2015}}</ref>

==Visitor centre==
Until Easter 2010 the site had a visitor centre inside which the [[Connected Earth]] gallery told the history of satellite communications. There were many other interactive exhibits, a cafe, a shop and one of Britain's fastest [[cybercafé]]s (a one gigabit pipe and a theoretical maximum speed per computer of 100&nbsp;Mbit). There were also tours around the main BT site and into the heart of Arthur.

At its prime, the site attracted around 80,000 visitors a year, but in March 2010 BT announced that the visitor centre would be "Closed for Easter and beyond, until further notice."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8562305.stm|title=Goonhilly satellite station visitor centre closes|work=[[BBC News]]|date=11 March 2010|access-date=9 August 2015}}</ref>

== Development to Commercial Deep Space Communication ==
On 11 January 2011 it was announced that part of the site was to be sold to create a space science centre.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-12159878|title=Goonhilly at 'forefront of space exploration'|work=[[BBC News]]|place=[[Cornwall]]|date=11 January 2011|access-date=9 August 2015}}</ref> This would involve upgrading some of the dishes to make them suitable for deep space communication with spacecraft missions. A new company was formed to manage the operations, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goonhilly.org/about/ges-ltd/|title=GES Ltd|access-date=9 August 2015|archive-date=16 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816042949/http://www.goonhilly.org/about/ges-ltd/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The company leased most of the antennas for at least three years with the option to buy the entire complex in the future. Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. took ownership of the site in January 2014.

There are plans to connect one or more of the Goonhilly dishes into global radio astronomy interferometer networks.<ref>{{Cite arXiv|eprint=1103.1214|title=Expanding e-MERLIN with the Goonhilly Earth Station|class=astro-ph|date=7 March 2011|last1= Heywood|first1=I.|last2= Kloeckner|first2=H-R.|last3= Beswick|first3=R.|last4= Garrington|first4=S. T.|last5= Hatchell|first5=J.|last6= Hoare|first6=M. G.|last7= Jarvis|first7=M. J.|last8= Jones|first8=I.|last9= Muxlow|first9=T. W. B.|last10= Rawlings|first10=S.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite arXiv|eprint=1103.3600|title=Goonhilly: a new site for e-MERLIN and the EVN|class=astro-ph|date=18 March 2011|last1= Kloeckner|first1=H. -R.|last2= Rawlings|first2=S.|last3= Heywood|first3=I.|last4= Beswick|first4=R.|last5= Muxlow|first5=T. W. B.|last6= Garrington|first6=S. T.|last7= Hatchell|first7=J.|last8= Hoare|first8=M. G.|last9= Jarvis|first9=M. J.|last10= Jones|first10=I.|last11= van Langevelde|first11=H. J.}}</ref>

There are also plans to upgrade the former visitor centre into "an outreach centre promoting space and space science for visitors, including local residents and schools".<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

In July 2015 [[European Space Agency]] examined if antenna Goonhilly 6 could be used to support [[Artemis 1]] of the [[Orion spacecraft]].<ref>{{cite web |date=16 July 2015 |title=Goonhilly Earth Station hoping for new lease of life |url=http://sen.com/news/goonhilly-earth-station-hoping-for-new-lease-of-life |access-date=9 August 2015 |publisher=[[SES (company)|SES]]}}</ref> Since then the 30 and 32 meter dishes have been refurbished, upgraded, tested and certified as deep space stations and confirm to [[CCSDS]] and now can enhance NASA's [[NASA Deep Space Network|Deep-Space-Network]] or ESA's [[ESTRACK]] network. The services are offered to NASA, ESA, JAXA, ASI, CNES, CSA, DLR and UKSA.

The site is a partner in the bid by [[Newquay Airport]] to become the UK's first Spaceport.

===Support for Moon exploration===
In April 2018, Goonhilly became part of a collaboration partnership for commercial [[Moon|lunar]] mission support services, with the [[European Space Agency]] and [[Surrey Satellite Technology]]. The agreement calls for the upgrade of Goonhilly, and development of the [[Lunar Pathfinder]] mission. Plans exist for small landers with a lunar mothership providing communications relay.<ref name="2018-04-19_MD">[http://www.moondaily.com/reports/SSTL_and_Goonhilly_Earth_Station_Sign_Collaboration_Agreement_with_ESA_for_Commercial_Lunar_Missions_999.html  SSTL and Goonhilly Earth Station Sign Collaboration Agreement with ESA for Commercial Lunar Missions], MoonDaily.com, 2018-04-19</ref>

On 22 February 2024 the station served as the Earth station for the [[Intuitive Machines]] [[IM-1]] spacecraft as it landed on the Moon. The first American spacecraft to do so since the [[Apollo 17]] mission in 1972.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, Cornwall, England-29Sept2009.jpg|Side view of "Arthur"
Image:Antenna One (Arthur) at Goonhilly (front view).jpg|Front view of "Arthur"
Image:Antenna One (Arthur) at Goonhilly (rear view).jpg|Rear view of "Arthur"
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Cornwall}}
{{commons category|Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station}}
* {{official website|http://www.goonhilly.org/}}

{{BT Group |state=autocollapse}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}

[[Category:BT Group buildings and structures]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Earth stations in England]]
[[Category:Industrial archaeological sites in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Mass media in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Science and technology in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Transatlantic telecommunications]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in England]]