Australian officials were left confused after a mysterious object washed up on Green Head beach some 250 km (155 miles) north of Perth a few days ago, but Indian officials have responded, saying there was a large The metal may be a part of their rocket but this will be said after a thorough analysis.
“Unless we analyze it, we cannot confirm that it is ours,” Sridhar Somnath told. BBC,
After the object washed ashore, speculation began that it might have been part of flight MH370 with 239 people on board, which disappeared off the Western Australian coast in 2014. However, experts said it is “unlikely”.
Some even said it was from India’s latest moon mission Chandrayaan-3 which launched on Friday. However, experts rejected this.
The cylindrical object sparked excitement among locals as police described it as “dangerous” and urged people to keep a “safe distance from it”.
According to Australian media, residents of Green Head Beach said the cylinder was approximately 2.5 meters wide and between 2.5 meters and 3 meters tall.
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said the object was likely a fuel tank from a rocket that crashed into the Indian Ocean sometime in the past 12 months.
The Australian Space Agency said it was possible the giant cylinder had fallen from a “foreign space launch vehicle” and was in contact with other international agencies.
Back then, people believed that the object was the fuel tank of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) uses to launch satellites into space.
Days after the Indian launch of Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon, people speculated that it might be debris, however, experts suggested that the object had been in water for at least months.
ISRO chief Somnath said there was “no mystery” about the object, confirming that “it is part of a rocket”.
“It could be PSLV or any other and it cannot be confirmed until we see it and analyze it,” he added.
Somnath, however, confirmed that “some parts of the PSLV have fallen into the sea beyond Australia’s exclusive economic zone” and added that the object “must have floated for a long time and eventually reached the shore”.
He said there was no danger from the debris.
