Elfordstown Earthstation 1.81

Elfordstown Earthstation is a ground station located near Midleton, Co. Cork, in the south of Ireland. It is operated by the National Space Centre Ltd and is Ireland's only and Europe's most western teleport.HistoryThe Elfordstown site was originally commissioned by Telecom Éireann in association with Eutelsat and came into service in 1984, with the purpose of broadcasting voice, data and television services across Europe and between the United States and the continent. However, with the laying of transatlantic fibre cables in 1997, the 32m antenna became redundant and was left idle for a number of years.After several years unused, National Space Centre Ltd took over the Elfordstown facility in 2010, installing a number of new satellite dishes and implementing a number of commercial and research based projects. The new complex was completed in April 2013.LocationElfordstown Earthstation is located about 3 miles north of Midleton and can be reached via a 3 km private road. The area is bounded by a 2.5m fence and can only be visited after registration. The facility consists of the main building with staff offices and rooms for research and development activities. A second, smaller building contains the generators for emergency power supplies as well as some more small buildings on the area for antenna purposes. The site with a size of 7.5 acres is dominated by the 32m diameter C band antenna, which is currently not in operation. With the new 9.1m Ka band antenna built in 2011, it currently operates five antennas from 3.7m to 13.1m and many smaller dishes. The antennas are capable of communication in the C-, Ku-, Ka-, and S band.