The MIT Computation Center was organized in 1956 as a 10-year joint venture between the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and IBM to provide computing resources for New England universities. As part of the venture, IBM installed an

IBM 704 The IBM 704 is a large digital mainframe computer introduced by IBM in 1954. It was the first mass-produced computer with hardware for floating-point arithmetic. The IBM 704 ''Manual of operation'' states: The type 704 Electronic Data-Pro ...

, which remained at MIT until 1960.

Operation Moonwatch

After the successful launch of

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

on October 4, 1957, the race was on to calculate and predict where the first man-made

satellites A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...

would appear in the sky.

Fred Lawrence Whipple Fred Lawrence Whipple (November 5, 1906 – August 30, 2004) was an American astronomer, who worked at the Harvard College Observatory for more than 70 years. Amongst his achievements were asteroid and comet discoveries, the " dirty snowball" h ...

, then director of the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, the ...

(SAO) in Cambridge Massachusetts, had gathered

amateur astronomers Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

to track artificial satellites in an organization called

Operation Moonwatch Operation Moonwatch (also known as ''Project Moonwatch'' and, more simply, as ''Moonwatch'') was an amateur science program formally initiated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in 1956. The SAO organized Moonwatch as part of the ...

. The aim was to get the position of the

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

in order to obtain its

orbital elements Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same ...

. The first "satisfactory orbit" calculated by the

as official tracker for the SAO occurred at 7AM on October 11, 1957.

References

* Christian Science Monitor, "Soviet Space-Satellite Rocket Sighted By Observation Teams in Cambridge", Oct 11, 1957, page 1 * Tech Talk (MIT Newsletter), October 22, 1957 "A Lucky Seven" *

Tech Engineering News ''Tech Engineering News'' was a student-run publication at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1920 to 1976. It started as an advertising supplement for '' The Tech'' in 1920, and its last issue was Volume 60 No. 1. In 1952, it publishe ...

, "moon track", March 1958, Vol XXXIX No. 6, p68 * Beyer, Jean-David and Sidney Shinedling, "The i.b.m 704 computer at m.i.t" tech engineering news, May 1958, Vol XXXIX No. 8, p26 * NASA Article Citation "Technical aspects of satellite tracking on IBM computers at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts" Feb 26, 1960

External links

Archive.org: selected articles and references on Sputnik
{{authority control Computation Center Computer science institutes in the United States Research institutes in Massachusetts 1956 in computing Research institutes established in 1956 Scientific organizations established in 1956 1956 establishments in Massachusetts