Is space the next frontier for archaeology?

The beloved Cassini, which fired its thrusters one last time last September, is just one of many things we've left out in space. (video link)

In the past 60 years, humans have left a lot of stuff on other worlds or floating in space. We've landed (or crashed) spacecraft on Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and Titan. Along with the hundreds of objects in orbit around Earth, the Moon, and Mars, those spacecraft provide a physical record of human activity that could outlast some of the most ancient ruins here on Earth.

"There's stuff in orbit, particularly in middle to high orbits, that's up there for thousands or even millions of years," said Flinders University space archaeologist Alice Gorman.

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