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"The Last Pictures" disc, which could circle the Earth for billions of years, contains just 100 black and white photos.
The project involves attaching a silicon disc encased in gold to the outside of a communications satellite. The disc will include just 100 etched photos, which are meant to be a cultural artifact for aliens to find if mankind is no longer here when they come knocking.
The European Space Agency is planning missions to take out space junk. The agency's Clean Space initiative plans to tackle the problem directly, by designing dedicated removal missions. Initial plans will see ESA's 2015 Automated Transfer Vehicle (unmanned cargo freighter) include experimental optical sensors, that could be used for future rendezvous with 'unwanted targets'.
Voyager was sent past several planets, including Pluto in 1990 and left our solar system in November 2004.
Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
reply to post by silent thunder
Nice idea,but I thought that satellites had a much shorter lifespan than 100's of years as their orbit decays over time,thus they need to be constantly adjusted to maintain orbit.
What is to stop the same happening to this one-or have I missed something?