New frontier for space industry in South West
ONCE Cornwall led the world in the exploitation of resources beneath the earth’s surface, now the county is poised to be at the forefront of a revolution in the industry that focuses high above our planet.
While the county exported men who were experts in hard-rock mining, this time engineers and scientists from around the world are coming in to make use of what Cornwall has to offer.
Clients of the Goonhilly Earth Station on the Lizard include the American and European space agencies, Nasa and ESA. The privately-owned facility is heavily involved in a range of services include satellite tracking and control.
That, too, is a nod to Cornwall’s past, but to the recent decades of space exploitation and exploration rather than centuries of tin and copper mining. Goonhilly built a worldwide reputation for beaming television pictures via satellite including the images of the first manned lunar landing 50 years ago.
“But as the space sector is changing and becoming more diverse we are changing to meet those requirements,” said entrepreneur and satellite communications engineer, Ian Jones, the chief executive of the Goonhilly complex.
“Ten years ago when you were watching your television it was all about Sky and receiving lots of channels. Now with broadband it is about catch-up and box set series on Netflix and Amazon Prime and watching YouTube. Satellite has declined for tel
evision.” But not satellite use overall as the spacecraft are vital for communication, sending phone signals around the world and delivering broadband coverage to hard-to-reach areas. They help us navigate through satnav, a technology that was once the preserve of the military and the likes of aircraft and shipping, but which is now commonplace in our cars and on our mobile phones and some watches. The information and imagery garnered by satellites tell us whether our parcel will be delivered on time or whether the food we eat is from a sustainable source.
Satellites help scientists monitor Earth’s surface for signs of climate change and the atmosphere to forecast the weather. Space-based technology provides farmers with information to monitor soil, rainfall, pest control and harvesting.
As their use soars, so does demand for satellites. “The huge growth is in low-orbit satellites, at the height of a few hundreds miles, below Earth’s magnetic field, safe from the ravages of solar storms,” said Mr Jones.
“They do not have to be as technically robust or as large as the geostationary satellites, thousands of miles above Earth.” Being closer to Earth they provide faster communication as the data they send and receive has less distance to travel, giving landline quality.
At low orbit, many more are needed to keep in contact with or provide a
Cornwall can be a major hub for space and with a snowball effect through the South West economy
IAN JONES
service to a given area – they orbit the planet in 90 minutes or so rather than being ‘fixed’ above the surface like a geostationary spacecraft. Plus, unless occasionally boosted back into orbit, they have a much shorter working life than the 15 years or so of a geostationary satellite. “They are small [10kg or so], lower cost and last only one or two years because they are pulled back to Earth by traces of the atmosphere,” said Mr Jones.
Thousands more of the small satellites are due to be launched over the next few years.
That is good news for this country – the UK is the world’s largest manufacturer of ‘smallsats’. But, currently without a launch site on home soil, Britain is missing out on the market for testing and putting the vehicles into orbit. That is set to change with the development at Cornwall Airport Newquay of the UK’s first horizontal launch spaceport.
The project has secured over £7 million from the UK Space Agency, £0.5m from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and next week Cornwall Council’s cabinet will consider a £12m injection. Virgin Orbit plans to operate a Boeing 747 plane from the runway to carry a rocket to 35,000 feet above the Atlantic. The launch vehicle will release before carrying the satellite payload into orbit.
More satellites means more work for the likes of Goonhilly and could have a snowball effect on the Cornish and South West economy.
“The satellites will be tested at Newquay before launch. If we are doing that, companies can be building them in Cornwall and we can be processing the information that comes from them in Cornwall too.
“Cornwall can be a major hub for space and with a snowball effect through the South West as the supply chain develops and grows.”