BAE to supply ground control tech for ESA space missions

BAE Systems will supply ground control equipment to Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall to allow the European Space Agency to track and communicate with manned and robotic missions to the moon and mars.

Goonhilly, which is situated on the Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard peninsula, is set to become the world’s first privately-owned member of the Deep Space Network under a new contract recently announced by ESA.

The FTSE 100 group on Tuesday signed a contract to supply privately-owned Goonhilly with two tracking, telemetry and command processor (TTCP) systems, with BAE and Goonhilly working closely with the ESA on its deep space programme. This represents the first time TTCP has been purchased by a private company.

Nick James, BAE Systems' lead engineer for the project, said: “The technology receives and converts faint radio signals from spacecraft into data that mission controllers use to monitor and control the spacecraft. The highly flexible system is able to handle differing ESA and NASA requirements and protocols, which makes it an ideal choice to support Goonhilly in future space missions.”

As part of its contract fulfillments, Goonhilly Earth Station is upgrading its largest antenna to meet the exacting requirements for deep space communications, making use of the TTCP technology to achieve these objectives.

Ian Jones, Goonhilly chief executive, said: “We have a great deal of interest in using Goonhilly’s upgraded antenna from our international customer base, including space agencies and some of the new private space exploration companies. This system will ensure that we can support missions for a number of space agencies.”

BAE Systems’ shares were down 0.30% at 670.40p at 1239 BST.