Goonhilly Earth Station

On Monday I was part of the fantastic event Careers Launch Cornwall at Goonhilly Earth Station! It was for students aged between 15 and18 and aimed to introduce them to potential careers in space. It was organised in collaboration with SpaceCareers.uk and UKSEDS (UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) with support from Spaceport Cornwall.

 

The day began with Jacob Smith from UKSEDS and SpaceCareers.uk introducing the space sector, which contributes £14.8 Bn to the UK economy and there are 42 000 jobs directly involved in space in the country.

 

Next was Jamie Williams, a Mechanical Engineer Intern at Goonhilly Earth Station. Goonhilly itself was established in 1962 to receive the first trans-Atlantic TV pictures, and over the years it has also broadcast the Moon landings and Live Aid. Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd was established in 2009, and it acquired the site from BT in 2014. The site has around 30 antennas for activities such as deep space communications, up-linking instructions and down-linking data from satellites in GEO and LEO orbits. There is also an increasing focus on data processing with three supercomputers on-site alongside a sub-sea cable providing very high-speed internet access. Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd has a strong commitment to education and outreach although Jamie, who is from Cornwall, said he needed to go to a placement fair elsewhere to realise there were opportunities locally. We’ve heard this before as local students simply don’t realise the extent of the space industry we have down in the South West, and so it’s great having these local events for schools.

 

Ross Hulbert, from Spaceport Cornwall, discussed the transition of Newquay airport into a spaceport. Virgin Orbit is a horizontal launch partner, planning the UK’s first sovereign launch by 2021 with Goonhilly as a lead technical partner. Horizontal launching of satellites is not new, the SeaWiFS mission was launched from a Lockheed L-1011 aircraft in 1997 – this mission was going to be the focus of my PhD, but was launched late as earlier test launches didn’t go well and so I worked on aerial images at the start of my career.

 

Horizontal launching has become more popular as satellites have become smaller, e.g., CubeSats, and this route is more cost-effective and allows satellites to be launched from locations where a vertical launch isn’t possible. Spaceport Cornwall was approved in November 2019 with a £20 M investment package, including £12M from Cornwall council. It’s expected to create 150 jobs, with over 80 for the local community, and more than 240 jobs in the broader supply chain.

 

Heidi Thiemann discussed her Careers in Astronomy, currently studying for a PhD at the Open University but also working in the community to support those interested in a space career. She was enthused by watching the 1999 solar eclipse and 2002 beagle mission, and now studies binary stars. I also gave a talk about satellite remote sensing and data analysis, and about how I got into this career.

 

In addition to the talks, there were opportunities for students to ask questions via a panel and there were speed mentoring sessions. I took part in both sessions, which were fun, even a bit manic in places. In addition, we were given a tour of the Goonhilly site – it was a shame it was raining during the tour. This was my first visit to Goonhilly, despite living in Plymouth for over 30 years. It was great to see both the large deep space antennas and smaller ones we could see moving as they tracked satellites.

 

It was a great day overall, and who knows, maybe one, or more, of the students who attended could be part of the next generation of workers for the UK Space industry. We are certainly going to need them!