• Space and satellite industry veteran with strong engineering and business development background to expand Goonhilly’s reach across region

Cornwall, UK. 13th July, 2018. Satellite communications innovator and space gateway, Goonhilly Earth Station, today announced the appointment of Bob Gough as Head of Business Development, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Based in Australia, Gough’s role is to spearhead commercial expansion for Goonhilly across the region, develop new business opportunities and grow Goonhilly’s customer base.

Gough’s appointment comes just days after the July 1st establishment of the Australian Space Agency, signalling a major step forward in developing space-based opportunities to enhance businesses and communities in the region.

Goonhilly offers unmatched connectivity to businesses seeking international expansion. It provides access to all global satellite constellations, interconnected with bundles of subsea cables delivering worldwide high-capacity terrestrial reach, and local ultrafast fibre broadband. As a result, Goonhilly can serve as the gateway to the world and to space for regional satellite operators, broadcasters and enterprises based in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific markets.

In July 2018, Goonhilly unveiled its roadmap and investments designed to galvanise its position in the satellite industry and place it firmly at the vanguard of the new space economy following a £24 million funding injection by UK billionaire Peter Hargreaves in May 2018. One of the key parts of the roadmap is investing in infrastructure and facilities in the US and Australia to support globally based deep space projects.

Dr Bob Gough BSc, PhD, CEng, MIET, MAIAA has spent over 35 years in the space and satellite communications industry. His experience includes working on major projects in co-operation with international space agencies including ESA. Additionally, he has founded several successful technology companies.

Gough has played a key role in numerous communications satellite programmes worldwide since the 1970s. He was a member of the project team at ESTEC which led the design and development of OTS, ECS, Marots, Meteosat and Olympus, among others. Gough has also worked on major satellite projects and systems including Inmarsat, Intelsat, Eutelsat, Skynet and BSB, among others.

He has in-depth experience in the design and technology employed across all frequencies (VHF, UHF, L, S, C, X, Ku, Ka) both on spacecraft payloads and in earth stations. His expertise spans system design from equipment to the management of spacecraft subsystem contracts. 

He has worked on earth stations including TT&C stations, traffic stations operating in all satcoms bands, dual-band earth stations, specialised facilities such as satellite in-orbit testing stations, propagation measurement stations and radiometers. Projects have been carried out on large earth stations carrying traffic for whole countries, small business terminals, offshore oil rig terminals, fixed and transportable military earth stations, VSAT terminals, mobile terminals and TV uplink stations.

Gough is a Chartered Engineer, a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and he is Chair of the Media Relations Subcommittee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Communications Systems Technical Committee (CMSTC).

“With all the opportunities created by more affordable access to space we are seeing an explosion in creativity and innovation. As Goonhilly continues to drive forward the commercial possibilities of space, there will be new business-enhancing opportunities for organisations across Australia and Asia-Pacific,” said Gough.

“Bob’s incredible energy, his vast technical and commercial expertise and experience make him the perfect candidate to help Goonhilly expand in the fast-developing Asia-Pacific and Australian markets,” said Ian Jones, CEO of Goonhilly. “Throughout his career, Bob has amply demonstrated that he is an innovator, unshackled by convention when it comes to doing business and delivering real results, and we are excited to welcome him to the team.”