Space Geodesy Facility

The Space Geodesy Facility (SGF) is located in Herstmonceux, East Sussex. It is part of an international network of geodetic observatories making the observations that help unlock the power of precise positioning technologies to enhance both our daily lives and our understanding of the processes driving global change.

Geodesy provides the underpinning layer of information that lets us know where we are on, under or above the surface of the Earth. This enables us to perform effective disaster and risk management, predicting where problems will happen and enhancing the quality of our response. Satellites that are critical to our understanding of the long-term processes influencing the climate rely on geodesy to provide the precise orbits that locate their observations in space and on the ground.

By measuring gravity and how it changes over time and place, geodesy can reveal the way mass is distributed and transported around the globe. For example, tectonic movement, polar ice melting or, at a smaller scale, groundwater depletion can all be monitored and their impacts assessed by watching the effect they have on gravity.