Goonhilly Earth Station is set to play a role in NASA\u2019s historic Artemis II mission by passively tracking the Orion spacecraft as it orbits the Moon and returns to Earth.<\/p>\n
As the Artemis programme prepares to return humans to lunar orbit for the first time in over 50 years, Goonhilly will participate in the tracking of the Orion spacecraft as it launches through space. <\/p>\n
By tracking activity at the world\u2019s first commercial deep-space ground station<\/a>, based in Cornwall, the UK is demonstrating its capability to support deep-space missions from British soil.<\/p>\n Goonhilly\u2019s leading role in NASA Artemis missions<\/p>\n In 2022, Goonhilly\u00a0Earth Station provided critical communication and tracking support for NASA\u2019s Artemis I.\u00a0<\/p>\n Utilising its 32-metre GHY-6 antenna and expert teams, the facility tracked the mission\u2019s uncrewed Orion spacecraft and communicated with six of the CubeSats launched on the mission. <\/p>\n For Artemis II<\/a>, tracking will focus on the crewed Orion spacecraft as it journeys beyond low Earth orbit, flying around the Moon, and returning to Earth \u2013 marking humanity\u2019s first crewed lunar mission in over half a century.<\/p>\n UK Space Minister Liz Lloyd commented: \u201cFrom broadcasting the Apollo 11 Moon landing to the world in 1969, to now supporting NASA\u2019s return to the Moon with Artemis II, Goonhilly\u2019s rich heritage in space communication continues to inspire. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see Cornwall once again at the heart of a truly historic moment in human spaceflight.\u201d<\/p>\n Critical work on space weather forecasting<\/p>\n In parallel, Goonhilly is working with the UK Space Agency and NASA to explore downlink solutions for near-real-time space weather measurement enabled by NASA\u2019s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe<\/a> (IMAP). <\/p>\n