Is there a Space Industry in Ireland? Rory Fitzpatrick, National Space Centre Responds

In today's podcast Melanie Boylan spoke with Rory Fitzpatrick is the CEO of the National Space Centre in Elfordstown, Republic of Ireland.  They covered a lot of ground in their chat which included the above question, also how Brexit has impacted the industry and environmental sustainability and the space sector.  Listen in below to learn more:

Rory Fitzpatrick

Rory returned to Ireland in 1996 and moved from publishing into communications as media began its fast-paced merge with internet content. Recognising this new demand, in 1997 Rory launched IT Week, one of the first technical exhibitions in Ireland, and in 1999 established Mediasat Ltd to supply satellite based broadband in Ireland, and later Solas Ltd to supply terrestrial broadband.

In 2010 Rory organised a consortium of investors to create National Space Centre Ltd, which took over the running of Elfordstown Earthstation from Eircom.

National Space Centre

The National Space Centre (NSC) is Europe’s most westerly teleport and Ireland’s only commercial ground station. Opened as Elfordstown Earthstation in 1984 at a cost of IR£8M (€25M today), the facility celebrated ten years of operation as the NSC in 2020. The company provides commercial broadcast services, ground control support for satellites and spacecraft, academic research partnerships and space industry consulting. The NSC’s co-located Space Campus is home to more than a dozen Irish space startups and EU-headquartered space enterprises.

The refurbished site has grown from five initial antennas to 33 antennas on-site in 2021. These range from a variety of dishes as small as 3.7M to the site’s flagship 32M dish, known as The Big Dish.

Following a nationwide schools competition in 2011, the dish was officially named CORY: Computer Operated Radio Yoke.