HEO Space has published an image of an intriguing object in Earth orbit. It is a stage of the Ariane 4 rocket, launched back in the last century.
There are thousands of defunct satellites in Earth orbit, launched over the years of the space age. They are accompanied by numerous spent rocket stages and boosters, which have also become part of the space debris population.
Various government and military agencies, joined in recent years by private companies, actively monitor such space debris to prevent it from colliding with active spacecraft.
However, in addition to the threat it poses, space debris also has a certain historical value. Some of its objects are unique artifacts of the past and are of considerable interest to technoarchaeologists.
One example is the upper stage of the Ariane 4 rocket. It was ESA’s workhorse from 1988 to 2003. It was then replaced by Ariane 5, which in turn was replaced by Ariane 6.
Although Ariane 4 has not flown for a long time, its spent upper stages are still in Earth orbit. One of them was recently photographed by a BlackSky satellite. It has been in space since December 1999. The rocket was used to launch the French military satellite Helios 1B and the experimental spacecraft Clementine.
As a reminder, HEO Space recently announced its intention to purchase an old geostationary satellite to photograph the asteroid Apophis.
