Our Location

Aerial view of Goonhilly

The ideal spot for Antennas, Computers, Goats and Alpacas

As every estate agent will tell you, location is everything.

Call us biased, but Goonhilly Downs is one of the most stunning spots in the UK. On the most southerly tip of mainland Britain, our satellite dishes dominate the west coast of the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall.

The remote location minimises radio-signal interference and the serpentine rock can support the weight of even the largest dishes.

Goonhilly Downs itself is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Its sparse heathland features many rare plants thanks to the mild oceanic climate. 

Our site is also home to a menagerie of alpacas, goats and at least a thousand rabbits.

The Goonhilly site is steeped in pre-historic as well as recent communications history. Neolithic barrows, tumuli and monuments include a 3.2-metre high standing stone.

Goonhilly Downs used to be notorious for its highwaymen. But now we are known for sitting at Europe’s communications crossroads, where satellite meets global subsea cables and fibre. Cornwall used to host the hotline between the US president and the UK prime minister too. 

Today 90% of transatlantic data traffic still comes through Cornwall. Never complacent, local investment in the space economy now includes the Spaceport Cornwall horizontal launch site at Newquay. 

When you add communications and data with renewable energy and an environment with mild climate, you can see why this is the top spot for AI, deep learning and high-performance computing.

Our Sites & Heritage

Goonhilly has two sites within the UK, located in Cornwall and Hampshire


Goonhilly HQ – Goonhilly Earth Station – has a rich history, having participated in every milestone in the development of satellite telecommunications. Geographically, the Goonhilly Earth Station site is situated over an area of 142 acres on the Lizard Peninsula, in Cornwall. Being surrounded by ocean in all directions except the North, and in a low population density area means the site experiences exceptionally low RF interference.


Our Farnborough office is home to a number of our expert research engineers, technical consultants, and project managers. Its convenient location is just a stone's throw from London.


Aerial View of Goonhilly's HQ in Cornwall
Aerial view of Farnborough Business Park

Services are also offered from our two US teleports, in Connecticut and California


In 2023, Goonhilly acquired established Goonhilly Inc (dba COMSAT) and acquired the renowned COMSAT Southbury and COMSAT Santa Paula teleports on the US East and West coast. Located 60 miles North-east of New York and 90 miles North of Los Angeles respectively, the sites have operated continuously since 1976 and were the first in the US to achieve World Teleport Association Tier 4 certification - a testament to the teleports' industry-leading standards.


Goonhilly are proud to offer satcom services from the US sites, which offer 24/7/365 Network Operations Centers, terrestrial connectivity to all major fiber networks, and excellent levels of redundancy and security.


Discover more about COMSAT at comsatteleports.com

Aerial View of COMSAT Southbury teleport
An aerial view of COMSAT Santa Paula, showing satellite antennas against Californian hills

Goonhilly Earth Station Heritage

From the first Moon landing to future Mars missions

Goonhilly Earth Station has been at the forefront of the satellite communications industry for over 50 years.


We first caught the public’s imagination in 1962 when our large dish, Aerial-1, known as Arthur, received the first transatlantic TV signal - a speech by President Kennedy via Telstar, the earliest communications satellite. 


In 1969, the Apollo 11 Moon landing truly signalled the dawn of the space age. Arthur beamed Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon to a global audience of around 600 million.


Arthur went on to broadcast Muhammad Ali fights and the 1985 Live Aid concerts as well as its bread and butter: phone calls, bank transactions and shipping distress calls.


By the 1970s, Goonhilly Earth Station was the largest in the world, transmitting and receiving communications from satellites. Every UK international call was spliced up here to be sent over satellite to its destination.

As the UK’s main route for international telephone calls over satellite, we were instrumental in the development of Intelsat, Eutelsat and Inmarsat.


Birth of the Internet


In 1991, Goonhilly Earth Station became the lynchpin in the Internet, connecting the East and West coasts of the US to Europe.

Nathanial Bradford's Illustration of 'First Internet' route 1977

We are now at the dawn of a new space era, where private companies are finding creative new ways of exploring and commercialising space, supported by our deep space communications.

 

With parallels to the new space economy moving from public ownership to private initiatives, in 2014, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd acquired the iconic Goonhilly Earth Station site from BT. 


Then in 2018, Peter Hargreaves, the billionaire behind Hargreaves Lansdown, invested £24M in the business.

 

Today we are involved in a diverse range of long-term collaborations, projects and innovations that will ensure the site, alongside its US sister sites, continue to make history.


NASA PR photo : Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Collins
Aerial View 'Goonhilly Farnborough' Office
Ian Jones GES
Aerial View Goonhilly

Our Heritage

From the first Moon landing to future Mars missions

Goonhilly has been at the forefront of the satellite communications industry for over 50 years.


We first caught the public’s imagination in 1962 when our large dish, Aerial-1, known as Arthur, received the first transatlantic TV signal - a speech by President Kennedy via Telstar, the earliest communications satellite. 


In 1969, the Apollo 11 Moon landing truly signalled the dawn of the space age. Arthur beamed Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon to a global audience of around 600 million.


Arthur went on to broadcast Muhammad Ali fights and the 1985 Live Aid concerts as well as its bread and butter: phone calls, bank transactions and shipping distress calls.


By the 1970s, Goonhilly was the world’s largest earth station, transmitting and receiving communications from satellites. Every UK international call was spliced up here to be sent over satellite to its destination.

As the UK’s main route for international telephone calls over satellite, we were instrumental in the development of Intelsat, Eutelsat and Inmarsat.

Nathanial Bradford's Illustration of 'First Internet' route 1977


Birth of the Internet


In 1977, we became the lynchpin in the Internet, connecting the East and West coasts of the US to Europe.


The new space age


We are at the dawn of a new space era, where private companies are finding creative new ways of exploring and commercialising space, supported by our deep space communications services.

 

With parallels to the new space economy moving from public ownership to private initiatives, in 2014, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, led by Ian Jones, acquired the site from BT. 


Then in 2018, Peter Hargreaves, the billionaire behind Hargreaves Lansdown, invested £24M in the business.

 

Today we are involved in a diverse range of long-term collaborations, projects and innovations that will ensure Goonhilly continues to make history.


Commercial deep space network


Goonhilly now hosts the world’s first commercial deep space network antenna through a recent upgrade programme on our 32m antenna GHY-6, allowing additional capacity that will extend existing NASA and ESA deep space networks. 



NASA PR photo : Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Collins
Aerial View 'Goonhilly Farnborough' Office
Ian Jones GES
Aerial View Goonhilly