20 m parabolic dish from the weather. The dish has a total weight of over 220 tonnes and can both receive and send data. As a result of a complete upgrading, the installation has an accuracy of about 1/1000 of a degree in positioning and is thus being prepared for the planned Mars mission AMSAT P5A, which will be partly navigated by the IUZ Bochum. Otherwise there is 1000 square meters of exhibition space and a lecture room for 160 people. Long-term exhibition Cosmos, Communism, Cold War – Sputnik 50: The History of Space Travel in Two Political Systems is the exhibition in the Radom of Bochum Observatory, supported by the "Federal Foundation for Studying the SED-Dictatorship". It documents the events of the Space Race from the first detection of the Sputnik signal in 1957 up to the present day. "The People's Observatory Bochum", one of the few institutions capable of receiving the first signals from Sputnik, became an important place in West Germany for the latest news and information about space. A special exhibition has been put on show in this historic location in space history, with numerous exhibits gathered from all of Germany documenting the instrumentation of space travel." External links Website of Bochum Observatory Sputnik 50: The History of Space Travel in Two Political Systems: Exhibition in Bochum Observatory RuhrNachrichten (RN) from 27 March 2009: "Bochum Observatory receives signals from Venus" - Bochum on the international stage again reporting back on space observation called up on March 2009 References Radio telescopes Buildings and structures in Bochum