Our future is in ruins: the archaeology of space, satellites and orbital junk

Next year will mark six decades of space travel. Orbiting above us are more than one hundred million pieces of debris from this age of exploration - everything from specks of paint and flecks of plastic, to the tool bag dropped by a US astronaut in 2008, to the bus-sized European observation satellite that unexpectedly fell silent four years ago. Twelve years ago, Australian archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman began thinking about the historical value of what is commonly called 'space junk'. Space junk makes space more hazardous. More

(Source: ABC Online - Dec 15)