Heritage Lectures 2024: Lovell's Radar - Missiles and Space

A brand-new series of Heritage Lectures in our Space Dome.

Discover hidden histories and surprising stories as leading scientists, archivists and historians reveal Jodrell Bank's 80-year tale of intrigue, resolve and radio waves.

The iconic Lovell Radio Telescope, built to study radio waves from space, has been in constant use by the University of Manchester for scientific research. However, did you know that during the early 1960s Cold War, (including the Cuban Missile Crisis), the RAF secretly added radar capabilities to it?

At the time, it was Britain's only such defence to warn of ballistic missiles aimed at the UK. Professor Garrington will unravel this story using primary records from the National Archives and Jodrell Bank itself. Moving into the modern day, with thousands of satellites orbiting Earth, listen on as he discusses modern experiments using radio telescopes to study and image space debris with bi-static radar.