60 years in orbit for ‘grapefruit satellite’ – the oldest human object in space

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Abstract

Sixty years ago, a grapefruit-sized aluminium sphere with six antennas and some tiny solar cells was launched into Earth orbit. The Vanguard 1 satellite is still up there and is the oldest human-made object in space. It’s our first piece of space archaeology.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages6
Specialist publicationThe Conversation
Publication statusPublished - 21 Mar 2018

Keywords

  • Space junk
  • satellites
  • Nanosatellite
  • Vanguard
  • Global perspectives
  • Cube satellites

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