Imagine for a moment that it’s 1 Billion years in the future.

A small vessel carrying a few intrepid explorers has arrived in a distant star system where they believe the fourth planet may harbour life.

On closer inspection this small bluey green world is uninhabited but curiously there is evidence in orbit and on the planet’s satellite that suggests this was not always the case.

What can these artifacts tell our interstellar archaeologist friends?

Dr Alice Gorman is the author of ‘Dr Space Junk Vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future’. She joins Aidan McKelvey to discuss.