humanity's stuff in space:

save? ignore? delete?

Kathryn Denning

York University

Monthly Number of Catalogued Objects in Earth Orbit by Object Type.

n.b. ‘Fragmentation’ = satellite breakup and anomalous event debris, as opposed to ‘mission-related’ debris, which is intentional. Source: Orbital Debris Quarterly News, vol

10 issue 2, April 2006. NASA. Catalogued by U.S. Space Surveillance Network.

Objects in Low Earth

Orbit –

approximately 95% of objects

are orbital debris rather

than functional satellites.

(dots not to scale!)

Source: NASA

Objects in Geosynchronous

Orbit

~35 785 km altitude

Again, mostly orbital debris

Source: NASA

Objects in Geosynchronous Orbit

Polar view

Source: NASA

Rt: panel from Long Duration Exposure Facility, after being in LEO in 5.7 years, until Jan 1990

Effective number of LEO objects, 10 cm and larger, from simulation by J.-C. Liou and N.L. Johnson. Best-case scenario based on assumption of no new launches after 1 Jan 2005. Source: Orbital Debris Quarterly News, vol 10 issue 2, April 2006. NASA, and Science 20 Jan 2006.

STILL OUT THERE…. From top left, by row:Ranger 4, impact 1962Ranger 7, impact 1964, first US moon imagesLuna 9, USSR, 1966Surveyor, US, 1966Luna 13, USSR, 1966Luna 16, USSR, 1970Luna 17/Lunakhod 1, USSR lander + first rover, 1970Lunakhod 2 rover, 1973, + landerLuna 1, USSR flyby in 1959, now in heliocentric orbit

Probable artifact locations at Tranquility Base. Lunar Legacy Project.

Plaque left on the moon surface as part of the Apollo

11 mission.

(It would be so nice if all

archaeological sites were

helpfully labelled for posterity like

this.)

Venera 9, 1975, the first to take pictures of Venus’

surface

Space Heritage Task Force of the World Archaeological Congress

2004 onwards

Some of our objectives:

* Identify examples of places, sites, and objects that have exceptional cultural value and whose preservation will benefit all humankind

* Propose a set of cultural, historical, social and scientific criteria for preserving space heritage places of exceptional cultural heritage value

* Investigate avenues for preservation within existing legal frameworks, e.g. World Heritage Convention

* Figure out which institutions might support programs of preservation / protection

2004 - Space Shuttle Columbia

Crew memorial on Mars, at the site of

the Mars Spirit rover landing.

Humanity’s story

from Laetoli to other worlds

Questions for you – as scholars, citizens of nation(s) and the world, and human beings:

What categories of objects or sites do you think should be preserved? (If any.) Why?

In general, what should the criteria (cultural, historical, scientific) be for identifying exceptionally

important objects or sites?