Researchers Warn Most Space Age Artifacts Lack Guaranteed Preservation
The most famous spacecraft burn up on re-entry or sink in the ocean, and efforts to protect their heritage lack reliable funding and a legal framework.
Most of the most famous spacecraft have either burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere or sunk in the ocean at the end of their missions. Now researchers are asking who will take on the task of preserving Space Age artifacts for future generations, since their fate is not yet guaranteed by anyone.
Voyager 1 was launched almost 50 years ago and is still operating. According to calculations, in about 40,000 years it will pass near the star Gliese 445. However, most of the equipment with which humanity explored space will not share such a fate. Orbital stations and telescopes, including Hubble and the International Space Station, will likely end their journeys in a similar way. Scientists have already called for Hubble to be preserved, but no decision on its fate has yet been made.
Some hardware has been saved thanks to museums: space shuttles are on display in museums. However, most of the equipment remained in orbit or was lost during return to Earth. The Moon presents a particular problem. Apollo mission equipment remains there, and its protection is virtually unregulated by international law. This means that objects that became symbols of one of humanity's greatest achievements effectively have no guarantees of preservation.
One proposal is to create a structure modeled on UNESCO that could recognize space heritage sites and grant them protected status. The authors of the idea argue that such work should be financed not from science budgets but from funds intended for supporting cultural heritage. Such an approach would separate the tasks of preserving history from those of current scientific missions, which already compete for limited resources.
The prospects for such a structure are complicated by the fact that the United States intends to withdraw from UNESCO at the end of this year. This removes one of the most obvious institutional channels for the idea. In connection with this, private philanthropy is being named as an alternative source of funding. Space museums financed by billionaires are cited as a precedent, as well as patrons such as Carnegie and Morgan, who supported cultural institutions and thereby laid the foundation for national museum practice.
Preserving space heritage essentially comes down to the question of who will make decisions and who will pay for them. So far no organization has fully assumed this role, and the service lives of many spacecraft, including the Hubble telescope and orbital stations, are gradually coming to an end. That is why the debate about protecting these artifacts no longer looks abstract.
Source: newscientist.com
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