It's a small world

[Neil H]

I was on a boating holiday last week and was chatting to a really nice guy when he said "when I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time with my uncle " who turned out to be sir Lovell of Jodrell bank he went on to chat about sputnik and how after the batteries went dead it was Sir Lovell that use a radio telescope to bounce a beam off sputnik to track it amazing guy Sir Lovell 

[Gfamily]

I'm not sure about bouncing radar off Sputnik itself, but the '250ft telescope'  was certainly used in radar mode to track the launch rocket - as it was based on the Soviet R7 ICBM rocket launcher.

Later renamed the Mark I Telescope, it's now called the Lovell Telescope. 

If you get a chance to visit Jodrell Bank, the new 'First Light' gallery there has a great exhibition about its construction and early use. Tickets last a full 12 months, so it's great for re-visits as well.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Gfamily
Auto correct not knowing when it's doesn't need the apostrophe

[Neil H]

Well that's what the guy said no one knew how to track it 

[Gfamily]

5 hours ago, Neil H said:

Well that's what the guy said no one knew how to track it 

What's the 'it' though ?

As I said,  the  exhibits at Jodrell Bank are very clear that the success was in tracking the launcher by radar,  and make no mention of tracking the satellite itself after its battery had died.  

The following article on the JB website talks about looking through the archives and mentions "The radar tracking of the Sputnik rocket bodies (and later Sputnik 3 itself) demonstrated that the telescope had the capability to detect missiles", which suggests that for Sputnik 1 at least,  it was only the rocket that was tracked. 

https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/history/tracking/part1.html

Yes,  maybe they did track Sputnik 1 by radar, but it's not mentioned,  and I wonder whether the nephew mis-remembered what his uncle told him.  

[Neil H]

May be your right still interesting 

[Macavity]

Talked to old lady at a bus stop few years back. She knew little about science
achievements of Sir Bernard Lovell - But he "played the organ at my church".
Used to pass "his dish", on the train, to first gap-6-months job, 50 years ago! 😉

Edited August 30, 2022 by Macavity