Consortium of Universities for Goonhilly Astronomy (CUGA) is a consortium of Universities bound by Memorandum of Agreement to use Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd (GES) assets for astronomical research, training and outreach.
The left panel above shows Goonhilly Earth Station with its three obvious large (30-m class) antennae. We propose to oversee the 'fast-track' introduction of Goonhilly-1 (or "Arthur") into the e-MERLIN radio astronomy network at L-band and Goonhilly-3 (or "Guinevere") into e-MERLIN at C-band. Perversely, we do not propose to use Goonhilly-6 (or "Merlin", middle-left of site picture) with e-MERLIN, but our commercial partners will use this for Deep Space communications.
The introduction of Arthur or Guinevere (both 30-m class dishes) into e-MERLIN doubles the resolution of e-MERLIN as the distance ("baseline") between Jodrell Bank and Goonhilly is roughly twice that between Jodrell Bank and Cambridge. It also greatly improves the ability of e-MERLIN to image or survey objects at or below the celestial equator due to the improved "UV coverage". These benefits are quantified here. This opens up the possibility of joint observations with southern hemisphere high resolution facilities and ALMA in particular.
We also hope to introduce Goonhilly antennae into European and global "VLBI" (Very Long Baseline Interferometery) experiments such as the EVN. Ultimately we hope that signals from Goonhilly antennae can be combined with those from the core or cores of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Inside and outside of e-MERLIN, Goonhilly antennae will be involved in pathfinding science for the SKA. We will also encourage our commercial partner GES Ltd to help develop technological solutions for the SKA.