Goonhilly Earth Station is a pioneering UK-based commercial space and satellite communications provider. It offers deep-space tracking and communication services for missions to the Moon and Mars, supporting agencies like ESA, NASA, and ISRO, as well as private space exploration companies. Goonhilly also provides satellite services from LEO to GEO, including uplink/broadcast and telemetry tracking, with over 90 antennas worldwide.
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After the transaction, Goonhilly will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuitive Machines and will retain its status as a U.K. entity.
Goonhilly operates from the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, England.
The Goonhilly acquisition is Intuitive Machines’ third recent acquisition after Lanteris Space Systems and KinetX.
COMSAT, operating as Goonhilly USA Inc., extends the network’s footprint across both U.S. coasts.
Goonhilly maintains certifications consistent with NASA’s Deep Space Network and ESA’s ESTRACK standards.
Goonhilly will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuitive Machines and retain its UK identity and its strategic base in Cornwall.
Goonhilly supported the IM-1 Odysseus lunar landing in February 2024.
The Goonhilly acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and is set to close in the third quarter of this year.
The acquisition would bring Goonhilly’s Cornwall, England facility and its U.S. teleports in Southbury, Connecticut, and Santa Paula, California, into Intuitive Machines’ integrated space-to-ground network.
The acquisition includes Goonhilly USA Inc., which operates as COMSAT.
Goonhilly’s antenna assets in the deal include the GHY6 32-meter antenna and the cryogenically cooled GHY3 30-meter antenna.
Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. is the United Kingdom’s leading provider of lunar and deep space communications.
Goonhilly and Comsat operate 44 antennas across teleports in the United States and the United Kingdom.
In 2021, Goonhilly signed a long-term agreement to support all Intuitive Machines lunar missions.
Intuitive Machines is acquiring U.K.-based Goonhilly Earth Station, which operates a network of ground station antennas and provides deep space communication services.
Intuitive Machines is acquiring Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. and its U.S.-based subsidiary COMSAT.
Cornwall's Goonhilly Earth Station will lead the AGILE project to develop Antenna Ground Interface and LunaNet Equipment with GBP 1.6 million in funding.
The five projects funded by the UK Space Agency include Orbit Fab, Goonhilly Earth Station, Vicinity Technologies, Archangel Lightworks with Eutelsat, and Viasat's U.K. subsidiary.
Goonhilly Earth Station received funding to build an interface unit for global antennas to communicate with spacecraft on lunar missions, compatible with the LunaNet specification.
Kenn Herskind has served on Goonhilly’s board since 2017.