A satellite earth station in Cornwall is set to play a role in Nasa launching its Artemis II mission to the Moon.
Nasa said it was on track to launch its Artemis II mission in early April, which would see astronauts fly around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Goonhilly Earth Station, near Helston, will help to track the Orion spacecraft as it travels around the Moon and back to Earth.
The satellite and space company has been involved in events such as broadcasting the Apollo 11 Moon landing to the world in 1969 and landing a commercial spacecraft on the moon for the first time.
In 2022, the site previously provided critical communication and tracking support for Nasa’s Artemis I.
Matthew Cosby, chief technology officer, said: “We regularly support about three or four deep space missions.
“The infrastructure was here right from the beginning, it’s a great location because we are high up above the sea, we have a great view of the horizon.
“We have great people who can operate the antennas, we have been a part of the space industry for decades.”
The team is hoping the support they offer NASA during the Artemis II mission could lead to a key role for future missions when it is planned for humans to actually return to the lunar surface.
He added: “During the landing there will be multiple antennas required to download the data.
“They do need help and we are demonstrating using Artemis II that we have the capability to do it.
“We have done it before for Artemis I and they have invited us back to do it again.
“Now we have a opportunity to be a part of something great, all from Cornwall.”
Oliver Hancock is a deep space network mission operations engineer [BBC]
Oliver Hancock, 26, said it was “pretty cool to be working in this ground-breaking stuff”.
He is a deep space network mission operations engineer at the site.
“I went to do physics at university, followed by meteorology as a masters degree and I came back to Cornwall as I’m born and bred here,” he said.
“It’s amazing to be able to use the skills that I learned back home here in Cornwall – it’s a really nice part of the world to live in.”
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