Goonhilly Earth Station boss who played vital role in Moon mission resigns

Lisa Letcher
·3-min read
Ian Jones, CEO of Goonhilly Earth Station
-Credit: (Image: Greg Martin)


The leading man behind Cornwall's pioneering satellite and space communications company has resigned from his role after being responsible for its rebirth. Ian Jones, of Goonhilly Earth Station, left the company earlier this month.

At the forefront of the former BT facility, Mr Jones has been a passionate and fierce advocate for the work being carried out at the satellite site. Just last week the founder of the company, based near Helston on the Lizard peninsula, was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his service to space communication and was honoured in the King's birthday list.

While the first satellite dish was built on the site in 1962, since 2014 it has been owned by Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd (GES) which is a privately-held company founded by the technology entrepreneur himself. A spokesperson for the the Goonhilly site said it will continue "to deliver exceptional services" despite his departure.

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GES is one of Cornwall's biggest success stories in the past decade, creating high value jobs and apprenticeships for young people. That's something Mr Jones previously said will grow as more contracts with space agencies around the world come in. Last year Mr Jones told CornwallLive: "We have a direct hotline to NASA and ESA's control rooms on launch days."

And with exciting things brewing for the company, in the summer of 2023 India became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon's south pole with the Cornish space station playing a vital role in the Moon race. History was made in August when the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon six weeks after launching from a spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.

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The craft became the first to land in the southern region of the lunar surface, thought to contain deep craters with water ice, and the landing was met with cheers and applause from mission control at Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Soon after the landing, as the Moon rose above our horizon, Goonhilly Earth Station was able to take over from a station in Australia in picking up signals from the lunar craft, with one of its giant antennae retrieving large amounts of data.

Mr Jones said of the milestone: "We are very excited for the Indian space agency and India for this amazing achievement. To be able to get a mission to the Moon and land at the South Pole and to be doing exploration on the Moon's surface is tremendous." The leading space communications facility played and continued to play a key role in the mission, picking up data from Chandrayaan-3 which is relayed to the Indian Space and Research Organisation.

Antenna 6 at Goonhilly Earth Station has helped track the Indian mission to the Moon
Antenna 6 at Goonhilly Earth Station has helped track the Indian mission to the Moon -Credit:Greg Martin

Companies House shows that Mr Jones resigned from his role at GES on June 7, 2024. A spokesperson for Goonhilly said: "Ian Jones is no longer serving as a director of Goonhilly. The responsibilities and duties previously held by Ian have been seamlessly transitioned to our executive chairman, Kenn Herskind.

"Kenn brings extensive experience and a deep understanding of our industry, which will ensure continuity in leadership and operations. Goonhilly remains steadfast in its mission to lead in our sector - continuing to deliver exceptional services globally while driving forward our ambition to advance the UK’s space communications capabilities."

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