British space programme

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 47. Chapters: Blue Streak, British Aerospace, HOTOL, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Beagle 2, Reaction Engines Skylon, Black Arrow, Woomera, South Australia, Virgin Galactic, The Needles, Skynet, British National Space Centre, Reaction Engines Limited, Surrey Satellite Technology, UK Space Agency, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Starchaser Industries, British Interplanetary Society, Roy Dommett, Black Knight, RAF Spadeadam, MoonLITE, Ariel 6, Ariel 2, Ariel 3, Prospero, UK-DMC 2, Space Innovation and Growth Team, Beagle 2: Evolution, Project Juno, Rocket Propulsion Establishment, Ariel programme, Ariel 1, Ariel 4, Habitation Extension Module, Ariel 5, Orba, Woomera Launch Area 5, Jaguar, Falstaff. Excerpt: The Jodrell Bank Observatory (originally the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, then the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories from 1966 to 1999; English pronunciation: ) is an observatory that hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Sir Bernard Lovell, who wanted to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar during the Second World War. It has since played an important role in the research of meteors, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and was heavily involved with the tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age. The current director of the observatory is Professor Lucio Piccirillo. The main telescope at the observatory is the Lovell Telescope, which is the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world. There are three other active telescopes located at the observatory; the Mark II, as well as 42 ft (13 m) and 7 m diameter radio telescopes. Jodrell Bank Observatory is also the base of the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), a National Facility run by the University of Manchester on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The site of the observatory, which includes the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre and an arboretum, is located in the civil parish of Lower Withington (the rest being in Goostrey civil parish), near Goostrey and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, North West England. It is reached from the A535. Observations at Jodrell Bank in 1945 Jodrell Bank was first used for academic purposes in 1939 when the University of Manchester's Department of Botany purchased three fields at the site from the Leighs. The name of the site came from a nearby ground rise called Jodrell Bank, which was named after William Jauderell and whose descendants, the Leighs, lived at the mansion that is now Terra Nova School. The site was extended in 1952 by the purchase of a farm from a local f