The Manchester Evening News today launches a major new campaign to save science at Jodrell Bank and the observatory's iconic Lovell Telescope.

The future of the near 70 year-old telescope - a much-loved landmark on the Greater Manchester skyline - is in doubt after funding cuts were announced on Monday.

Since 1957, it has been the largest telescope in the UK and the world's third largest steerable radio telescope.

In 1966, the first images taken from the surface of the Moon were received at Jodrell Bank. It went on to play a key covert role in the Cold War. For five years at the height of the tensions, Jodrell Bank was relied upon to give a four-minute warning of an impending nuclear attack.

In the decades since, the observatory has studied distant galaxies and helped to discover objects and phenomena including back holes, quasars, pulsars and gravitational lenses.

Today it is the lead in the e-Merlin array, a network of telescopes up and down the country carrying out scientific research in deep space.

But on Monday, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which provides funding, said that e-Merlin will not be prioritised for further funding after its current agreement ends in March 2028. The annual grant to the facility is worth some £2.8m a year.

Bosses at the University of Manchester, which manages the observatory, said the funding cut would mean the end of the Lovell Telescope as an 'active scientific instrument for radio astronomy' by March 2028 and the loss of 28 jobs employed by the e-Merlin grant.

The Macclesfield observatory's Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement - hugely popular for educational school trips - is not affected and would remain open. It's the science that would be lost, unless new money can be found.

It's estimated, however, that around 3,000 scientists could be affected in total in a knock-on effect.

Bosses at the university are said to be 'extremely actively' trying to find alternative sources of funding from government, industry, charities and philanthropy.

But Prof Sarah Sharples, Vice President and Dean of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester, said: "If we don’t find those alternative sources of funding, then there is a risk that as of the end of March 2028, then the Lovell Telescope will not be an actively functioning scientific facility for radio astronomy."

Jodrell Bank has had a pioneering role in the development of radio astronomy.

Its work in tracking spacecraft in the early space race, and its research into quasars, pulsars and gravitational lenses, is also part of its outstanding scientific heritage.

The site has evidence of every stage of the history of radio astronomy, from its emergence as a new science in the 1940s through to the present day.

Now the M.E.N, is calling on the funding decision to be reversed - sign our petition here.