Imaging the oldest pieces of Space Debris still on orbit using the TU Delft MISO telescope

 

The Vanguard 1 upper stage (1958-002A). Click image to enlarge

The Space Age started almost 69 years ago, with the launch of Sputnik 1. Very little hardware representing that dawn of Space exploration is still on orbit. The oldest two pieces of Space Debris  that are still orbiting Earth are Vanguard 1 (1958-002B) and the upper rocket stage (1958-002A) from this launch.

Vanguard 1 was launched on 17 March 1958, half a year after Sputnik. It was the second successful American satellite launch, and chronologically the fourth satellite to orbit our planet, after Sputnik 1 and 2 and Explorer 1. This satellite therefore truely represents the dawn of the Space Age and our very first steps into space.

 

Vanguard 1 on top of the upper stage, before launch in 1958. Image US Naval Research Laboratory

On the night of 25-26 April 2026, using the TU Delft 40.2-cm MISO telescope on the rooftop of the Delft University of Technology Aerospace faculty, I imaged both Vanguard 1 and its upper stage, while they were near Apogee. 

The upper stage was bright enough to see in the imagery when tracking at sidereal rate (i.e. on the stars), as can be seen in the image in top of this post, where the small streak is the moving upper stage.

Below is another image of the Vanguard upper stage, but this time with the telescope tracking the motion of the upper stage (hence why it is now a dot and the stars are now trailed). It is a 1-second exposure:

The Vanguard 1 upper staged imaged while tracking the object motion. Click image to enlarge

Below is a similar image, but this time showing Vanguard 1, again in a 1-second exposure tracking the satellite motion. Unlike the upper stage, Vanguard 1 was too faint to see in images tracked at sidereal rate. The image actually shows a moment where the small satellite was briefly brighter due to a glint on some reflective surface on the satellite. In imagery taken before and after this, it was fainter (but visible). Imaging a 15-cm diameter, grapefruit-sized object (see below) at a 4525 km range is quite a thing!

Vanguard 1 imaged while ttracking on the satellite motion. Click image to enlarge

Vanguard 1 is small: it is an aluminium sphere of only 15 cm in diameter, with some thin 0.9 meter antennae protruding, and a mass of 1.46 kg. It was placed in an elliptic 650 x 3970 km, 34.25 degree inclined orbit in 1958. Today, 68 years later, it is in a 653 x 3818 km orbit with perigee over the southern hemisphere. Vanguard 1 functioned for six years.

 

In that sense, the Vanguard RB (1958-002A), the upper stage from its launch, is the oldest still orbiting piece of space debris, as Vanguard 1 itself only became space debris when it ceased functioning in 1964.

The images above were taken when both objects were near their apogee. Vanguard 1 was at an altitude of 3760 km, and a range of 4525 km from the Delft telescope, and geographically over Northwest Africa, during the imaging. 

The Vanguard upper stage, with dimensions of 1.5 x 0.8 meter, was at an altitude of 3620 km and a range of 5130 km from the Delft telescope, and geographically over Northeast Africa, during the imaging.