page_title: Lovell Telescope
section_title: Sputnik and artificial satellites
hierarchical_section_title: Lovell Telescope / Space probe tracking / Sputnik and artificial satellites
caption_attribution_description: English: A replica of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in the world to be put into outer space: the replica is stored in the National Air and Space Museum. فارسی: مدل ماهواره اسپوتنیک-۱، نخستین ماهواره فضایی جهان Suomi: Sputnik 1:n, maailman ensimmäinen ihmisen laukaiseman Maata kiertävän keinotekoisen satelliittin, jäljennös.
context_page_description: The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m in diameter;
  it is now the third-largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, United States, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany.
  It was originally known as the "250 ft telescope" or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank, before becoming the Mark I telescope around 1961 when future telescopes were being discussed. It was renamed to the Lovell Telescope in 1987 after Sir Bernard Lovell, and became a Grade I listed building in 1988. The telescope forms part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network arrays of radio telescopes.
  Both Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband were knighted for their roles in creating the telescope. In September 2006, the telescope won the BBC's online competition to find the UK's greatest "Unsung Landmark". 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the telescope.
context_section_description: The telescope became operational in the summer of 1957, just in time for the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. While the transmissions from Sputnik itself could easily be picked up by a household radio, the Lovell Telescope was the only telescope capable of tracking Sputnik's booster rocket by radar; it first located it just before midnight on 12 October 1957. It also located Sputnik 2's carrier rocket at just after midnight on 16 November 1957.
  The telescope also took part in some of the early work on satellite communication. In February and March 1963, the telescope transmitted signals via the moon and Echo II, a NASA balloon satellite at 750 km (466 mi) altitude, to the Zimenki Observatory in the USSR.  Some signals were also relayed from the US to the USSR via Jodrell Bank.
caption: A model of Sputnik 1.
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