Over the past 60 years or so of space exploration, humans have left some things behind: bits of satellites, moon buggies, Mars rovers, even human excrement. It’s all part of the countless bits of human-made material that some people have dubbed “space junk.”
But what if, many, many years from now, archeologists wanted to trace the chronology of space exploration by examining the items we left in our wake? A new paper in the journal Nature Astronomy argues just this, that artifacts should be considered heritage, rather than trash.
Lead author Dr. Justin Holcomb, assistant research professor at the University of Kansas, joins Ira to discuss shifting our mindset on “space junk.”
Further Reading
- Reas about archaeologists’ first ‘space excavation’ on International Space Station via The Conversation.
- Check out this space archeology activity for kids via NASA.
Segment Guests
Justin Holcomb
Dr. Justin Holcomb is an assistant research professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
Segment Transcript
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