UK-based Goonhilly Earth Station is set to secure new funding from finance and investment services company Hargreaves Lansdown to support the further expansion of its deepspace network.
Hargreaves will invest £24m to buy an undisclosed stake in Goonhilly, which primarily provides spacecraft tracking and monitoring services to satellite operators.
The investment is also expected to help the company to operate a fully independent, global deepspace network in the future.
In 2014, Goonhilly Earth Station (GES) bought its site in Cornwall, UK, from BT. The company is privately held and was founded by technology entrepreneur Ian Jones.
GES has so far invested £5m in modernising the site for new space exploration and commercial communications projects.
Jones said: “Peter’s involvement is perfect timing as it allows us to realise our plans to grow parallel, but highly connected, revenue streams.
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By GlobalData“We are breaking new ground in developing a private global deepspace network at the same time as pushing the technology and service boundaries in other parts of the business.
“The ‘new space’ entrepreneurs are all about changing the model of how the space industry works, shattering previously entrenched practices and replacing them with new models of high productivity, workforce energy and embracing technology. This leads to much better solutions for our customers.”
In February, Goonhilly secured an £8.4m contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to operate the global deepspace communication network.
The company aims to develop a privately funded mission to the Moon with Surrey Satellite Technology and ESA. The goal is to provide communication relay and navigation services for other lunar missions.
