On 9/22/2011 1:22 PM, Andre Lieven wrote:
scientifically the study of very long term space exposure on such a
well documented vehicle could be useful

LDEF did that. Duh.

If they could recover Vanguard 1 or 2 they could get pretty much the
ultimate data on micrometeor impact probability on a spacecraft on a
yearly basis; their spherical shape would be ideal for this.

Pat