A mystery object found on a remote Australian beach may be space junk from a foreign rocket, officials believe.
The cylindrical object, about the size of a small car, washed up at Green Head, about 155 miles north of Perth, before being discovered late on Sunday.
It was cordoned off by police, with the Australian Space Agency now saying it is working with foreign counterparts to identify the object, which appears to be partly made of a woven material.
“The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information,” the agency tweeted.
European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd said her colleagues believe the item, which came from the Indian Ocean, fell from an Indian rocket while it launched a satellite.
“We’re pretty sure, based on the shape and the size, it is an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that’s used for a lot of different missions,” she told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Whoever launched the object into space will be responsible for its disposal.
“There is a United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and they have an outer space treaty that everyone has signed saying that whoever launches something into space is responsible for it right until the very end,” Ms Boyd said.
We are currently making enquiries related to this object located on a beach near Jurien Bay in Western Australia.
The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information.
[More in comments] pic.twitter.com/41cRuhwzZk— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) July 17, 2023
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The Indian Space Research Organisation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Western Australia Police said in a statement on Monday that a government chemical analysis had determined the object was safe and “there is no current risk to the community”.
Authorities had earlier treated the device as hazardous and urged the public to stay away.
Police said the device will be removed following formal identification of its origin.
“Police will maintain security of the object until it is removed and members of the public are requested to stay away from the location,” the statement said.
Some early media reports suggested the find might be part of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 that vanished in the Indian Ocean in 2014 with the loss of 239 lives.
That theory was quickly discounted.
Curious locals gathered to pose for photographs with the object on Sunday before police arrived.
Australian National University astrophysicist and cosmologist Brad Tucker said the object “definitely does look space chunky”.
An upper-stage of a rocket could contain the carcinogenic fuel hydrazine so bystanders should keep their distance, Mr Tucker said.
