LAGEOS I, a spherically shaped satellite orbiting earth that is predicted to come falling back down to earth 8.4 million years from now, will touch down with a small gift for whatever beings still exist.
The object, covered in retroreflectors which are designed to reflect lasers and send information to technicians and scientists on the ground, houses tons of data on the motion of earth's tectonic plates, gravitational field, "wobble" of earth on its axis, and the accurate lengths of days. Most importantly, it hosts maps of the Earth's geography from past times, now, and what they predict it will look like in the future. Though we aren't sure quite who is expected to ever discover that information, we can hope that it will prove to be a useful tool.
Though this satellite is certainly one of the most interesting man made objects to orbit earth, there has been other aspirators towards the title. Not long ago an astronaut went outside of the space station in her suit to repair a piece of their hi-tech equipment. Unfortunately, one of the tools in her tool bag malfunctioned, spooking the astronaut, who then released the bag and had to watch it float away in space. Unlike our LAGEOS I, who should be around for aliens to find, the tool kit reentered earth's atmosphere and was burnt to ash.
