If mankind disappeared tomorrow, what object would survive the longest to point that there was a inteligent being at one time, and how long into the future would such an object last. Some things I thought have:
The pyrimads, they lasted a long time, much longer then most other structures
Norad, hidden inside a mountain, I don’t expect it to go anywhere fat
landfills - but these might turn to oily slimly mush
Pioneer or voyager spacecraft - ‘safely’ floating in interstelar space, immune to even the sun going nova.
Viking martian landing craft, not much activity or errosive forces going on the red planet any more, and those things seem much more solid then the more recent rovers.
Lunar LEM moduals, or that mirror they left on the moon - also not much going on there either.
lunar booster rocket in solar orbit.
Or would it be something totally different, like a episode of the Honeymooners aired 60 years ago and still traveling through space - while not an object would qualify since it would reveal at least a semi-inteligent being.
Footprints on the moon, sez I. They’ll be there until either (a) meteorites have managed to wipe out every single one, which is highly unlikely over millions of years, or (b) the moon is gone too.
Someone actually figured out how long it would take for the footprints to dissapear based upon the expected rate of micrometeoroid weathering. I don’t recall the actual figure, but it was on the order of a few tens of thousands of years max. They just aren’t that deep. The landers however will last quite a while longer.
The Voyager spacecraft ( and other spacecraft that are headed out of the sola sytem) in my mind would last the longest.
I’m hoping it will be in the form of written, oral, and other preserved accounts of history and culture, and the technological know-how, all of which we take with us when we find a way to explore space and spread out beyond this planet.
