Goonhilly secures contract for deep space comms

Not strictly a booster story, but as a historic UK site Goonhilly has a long and winding history in space related stories. From receiving the first transatlantic TV pictures via Telstar in 1962, to providing geostationary and deep space services today Goonhilly will benefit from an initial £2m of funding in this fiscal year.

Goonhilly to boost deep space communications capacity  – GOV.UK

Up until 2010 Goonhilly was run by BT, having been previously operated by the GPO, and it was possible to visit. There was a cafe, an interactive display area, and you could take bus tours of the site. Indeed, in 2006 my then 1 year old son lost a sock whilst being carried on to a bus. The site is very exposed and I’ve never experienced it in anything less than a mild gale. Which means I never managed to get that tour of Goonhilly Aerial 1, aka “Arthur”, the English Heritage Grade II listed 26m parabolic dish, the first of it’s kind when it was built in 1962.

Oh, we never got that sock back. For all I know it’s still blowing around there.

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