Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station Facts for Kids

The Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is a very large place in Cornwall, England, where huge antennas talk to satellites in space. It's on the Lizard peninsula near Helston. A company called Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd owns it. This station was once the biggest satellite earth station in the world. It had over 30 communication antennas and dishes working at the same time. It also connects to special cables under the ocean that carry phone calls across the Atlantic Ocean.

History of Goonhilly
Facts and Figures
Changes and Closure
Visitor Centre
The Future of Goonhilly
- Supporting Moon Missions
Gallery
See also

History of Goonhilly

The first big dish at Goonhilly was built in 1962. It was named "Arthur." Arthur was made to connect with a satellite called Telstar. This dish was the first of its kind with an open, bowl-like shape. It is 25.9 metres (85 feet) wide and weighs a huge 1,118 tonnes.

On July 11, 1962, Arthur received its first video. This was part of the first live TV broadcasts from the United States across the Atlantic. Today, Arthur is a special protected building because of its history.

The Goonhilly station has been very important for many big communication events. It helped with famous boxing matches, the Olympic Games, and even the Apollo 11 Moon landing. It also played a part in the huge Live Aid concert in 1985.

Facts and Figures

The biggest dish at Goonhilly is called "Merlin." It is 32 metres (105 feet) wide. Other dishes have names like Guinevere, Tristan, and Isolde. These names come from the old stories of King Arthur, which are often set in Cornwall.

The station gets its power from the National Grid. If the power goes out, big batteries can keep all the important equipment running for up to 20 minutes. During this time, four large diesel generators start up to provide power. There is a wind farm nearby, but it is not part of the Goonhilly complex.

Changes and Closure

In 2006, the company BT announced that it would close the satellite operations at Goonhilly. This happened in 2008. BT moved all its satellite work to another centre in Herefordshire. This made that centre BT's only earth station.

Visitor Centre

For many years, Goonhilly had a visitor centre. It was open until Easter 2010. Inside, there was a gallery called "Connected Earth." It showed the history of satellite communications. There were also many fun, hands-on exhibits. You could find a cafe, a shop, and even one of Britain's fastest internet cafes there. You could also take tours around the main BT site and see the "Arthur" dish up close.

At its busiest, about 80,000 people visited Goonhilly each year. But in March 2010, the visitor centre closed for good.

The Future of Goonhilly

In 2011, exciting news came out. Part of the Goonhilly site was going to be sold to create a new space science centre. This plan included making some of the dishes better for talking to spacecraft far out in space. A new company, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, was created to manage this. This company took over the site in 2014.

There are also plans to connect some of Goonhilly's dishes to a worldwide network. This network helps scientists study space using radio waves.

The old visitor centre will also be improved. It will become a place to teach people, including local families and schools, about space and science.

In 2015, the European Space Agency started a study. They wanted to see if a Goonhilly antenna could help support the Artemis 1 mission. This mission involves the Orion spacecraft going to the Moon.

As of 2017, Goonhilly is also helping Newquay Airport try to become the UK's first Spaceport.

Supporting Moon Missions

In 2018, Goonhilly joined with the European Space Agency and Surrey Satellite Technology. They are working together to support commercial missions to the Moon. This agreement means Goonhilly will be upgraded. They also plan to develop small landers that can go to the Moon. A larger spacecraft will stay in orbit around the Moon to help with communications.