Lunar and Deep Space Missions

Did you know that as well as providing communications services for missions in LEO, MEO, and GEO (that’s missions orbiting up to ~36,000km from Earth), we’ve also provided support for missions in cislunar space and beyond since 2021?

You can learn more about our assets and capabilities on our GHY-6 page or read on to discover the range of customers and missions we’ve supported so far!

And don’t forget to keep a close eye on our news and media page for the latest updates as our lunar and deep space network “goes global”!

ESA Missions

Since qualifying to become part of the European Space Agency (ESA) augmented ESTRACK network of antennas in 2021, we have offered a commercial service to support a number of the Agency’s deep space science missions. From learning about water on Mars to discovering black holes and mapping the galaxy, Goonhilly is proud to play a part in answering some of the key scientific questions of our time.

Mars Express

Mars Express is helping to answer fundamental questions about the geology, atmosphere, surface environment, history of water, and potential for life on Mars.

Integral

Integral is ESA’s International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory. It studies explosions, radiation, black holes, and exotic objects, as well as the formation of elements in space.

Gaia

Gaia is designed for astrometry: the precise measurement of the positions, distances, and motions of the stars and other objects in space.

Integral

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Cluster II

Cluster II was a mission comprising four satellites studying the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.

Solar Orbiter

Solar Orbiter carries ten instruments and aims to answer important questions about the Sun, including what causes its cycles of magnetic activity and how its solar winds are formed.

Integral

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Other Missions

We are proud to offer deep space communications services which support a diverse range of missions for other international agencies and private companies. These may be contracted directly or delivered in collaboration with international space agency partners.

Hayabusa2

Hayabusa2 was originally launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2014 to study and collect samples from Ryugu, a primitive "near-Earth" asteroid, over 200 million km away. Following the success of this initial operation, JAXA extended the Hayabusa2 mission until at least 2031 and the spacecraft is now tasked with exploring other near-Earth asteroids in the Apollo group, namely 2001 CC₂₁ and 1998 KY₂₆.

Collaborating with ESA's ESTRACK network, Goonhilly has supported the downlink of data from this distant mission.

Artemis-I Orion Capsule

The Artemis programme comprises a series of lunar exploration missions led by NASA (the USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration), alongside partner agencies. As part of the Artemis-I mission, an uncrewed capsule, Orion, was launched into lunar orbit to test systems and procedures ahead of crewed missions in the future.

Goonhilly responded to NASA’s request for participants to track the Orion capsule’s journey. From Goonhilly HQ, Cornwall, UK, our team of deep space mission operators accurately tracked and measured changes in the radio waves that the spacecraft transmitted.

LunaH-Map

LunaH-Map was launched in 2022 as one of ten CubeSats deployed as part of the Artemis-I mission.

The instruments on board the craft were designed to produce detailed maps of water-ice indicators within the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon’s South Pole.

Goonhilly worked alongside ESA’s ESTRACK network to command, track the trajectories of, and download data from several of the Artemis-I CubeSats, representing the only commercial facility in the world to provide this service.

BioSentinel

BioSentinel was launched in 2022 as one of ten CubeSats deployed as part of the Artemis-I mission.

The craft carried a miniature biotechnology laboratory, designed to measure the response of living yeast cells to long-term exposure to space radiation.

ArgoMoon

ArgoMoon was launched in 2022 as one of ten CubeSats deployed as part of the Artemis-I mission.

Its mission was to capture highly detailed images of the Orion capsule’s separation from the SLS rocket.

HAKUTO-R M1

Developed by Japanese lunar robotic exploration company ispace, HAKUTO-R Mission 1 was launched in late 2022 and was intended to become the first commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon.

While the mission did not succeed in achieving a soft lunar landing, Goonhilly worked alongside ESA’s ESTRACK antennas to track the lander’s journey, providing vital telemetry data which will go towards helping future ispace missions achieve their lunar goals.

Chandrayaan-3

Launched on the 14^th of July 2023 by ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organisation), Chandrayaan-3 made a successful “soft landing” on the lunar surface, marking India’s place in history as the fourth nation to achieve this feat and the first nation to safely land a craft near the Moon’s south pole.

The mission's goals were to investigate the lunar atmosphere and to study seismic activity on the Moon’s surface.

In partnership with ESA, Goonhilly supplied critical communications support during the missions’ cruise, lunar orbit, and on surface operations phases, allowing ISRO to maintain vital communications with its assets.

Aditya-L1

Aditya-L1 was launched on the 2^nd of September 2023 and is the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. The mission aims to observe solar weather and its effect on space weather, in a bid to understand coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, flare activities, space weather, and the propagation of particles and fields.

The solar observatory is situated in a “halo orbit” around Lagrange Point 1 (L1)– the area of equilibrium between the Sun and Earth’s gravitational forces. Here (around 1.5 million km from Earth) Aditya-L1 benefits from unobstructed views of the Sun, with Earth never obscuring the observatory’s line of sight.

Collaborating with ESA’s ESTRACK network of antennas, Goonhilly has provided essential communication and tracking support, right from the mission’s early stages.

IM-1

Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar mission launched on the 14^th of February 2024 and formed part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. This initiative involves NASA working with commercial providers to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon, laying the foundation for a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface in the future.

Goonhilly provided TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking & Control), ranging, and downlink services to IM-1, through the mission’s LEOP (Launch and Early Operations Phase), cruise, lunar orbit, and lunar operations phases.

On the 22nd of February 2024, Goonhilly received the signal that confirmed that the lander had become the first commercial spacecraft to achieve a "soft landing" on the lunar surface.