Part of Chandrayaan 3? Australian authorities puzzled over mysterious object

“We want to reassure the community that we are actively engaged in a collaborative effort with various State and Federal agencies to determine the object’s origin and nature,” police said in a statement.

The authorities are not ruling out any possibilities and believe that the object can belong to the military or the Australian space agency. The reports from Australian publications describe the cylindrical object as 2.5m wide and between 2.5m and 3m long.

Multiple theories

Aviation experts are claiming that it is possible that the object is a fuel tank of a space rocket fallen into the Indian Ocean, possibly in the past 12 months. The space agency of Australia is checking with space agencies of neighboring countries as they consider the possibility of the object being part of a “foreign space launch vehicle.”

Some are pointing out that the cylindrical object is maybe part of the missing MH370, a plane that is believed to be crashed off the west Australian coast. But, while talking to BBC aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas ruled out the possibility and said, “It’s not any part of a Boeing 777 and the fact is MH370 was lost nine-and-a-half years ago so it would show a great deal more wear and tear on the debris.”

MH370 refers to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on March 8, 2014. The flight departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia en route to Beijing Capital International Airport in China. However, less than an hour after takeoff, the aircraft vanished from radar screens, leading to one of the most perplexing mysteries in aviation history.

Updated: 17 Jul 2023, 08:50 PM IST