The Human Archaeology of Space: Lunar, Planetary and Interstellar Relics of Exploration

Providing a unified catalog of archaeological artifacts that have been left behind in space as a result of human exploration, this book describes the remnants of lost satellites, discarded lunar rovers, depleted rockets, and various abandoned spacecrafts. The book is divided into three parts covering distinct but interconnected issues of lunar, planetary, and interstellar archaeology. In Parts One and Two, individual chapters cover the history of each space mission, along with technical notes and, in some cases, images of the artifacts in question. Part Three explores the archaeology of mobile artifacts in the Solar System and the wider galaxy, looking particularly at the problems encountered in attempting a traditional archaeological field survey of artifacts that may remain in motion indefinitely.