Skip to main content

Car-sized object washed up on beach could be space junk

A large metal object that washed up on a beach in Western Australia is believed to be space junk.

The car-sized lump appeared on a beach about 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Perth, Western Australia, several days ago, and has received growing attention ever since.

Recommended Videos

Commenting on the unusual find, which was deemed safe by chemical experts, the Australian Space Agency tweeted: “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.”

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

As it was being removed from the beach for more detailed analysis on Tuesday, an engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA) suggested it was part of an Indian rocket that fell in the Indian Ocean during a mission to launch a satellite, though the amount of sea life attached to the side of the object suggests it’s been in the water for some time.

“We’re pretty sure, based on the shape and the size, it’s an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that’s used for a lot of different missions,” Andrea Boyd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It takes a lot of effort to get up to orbit, so the first and second and third stage [engines] usually fall off and end up in the Indian Ocean,” Boyd added.

Speaking to 9 News Australia, Melissa de Zwart of Western Australia Space Radar said that while most space objects burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere as they descend at high speed, this clearly doesn’t always happen. Most rocket launches are designed in a way that any objects that don’t completely burn up come down in the sea, though China has faced criticism in recent years for missions involving uncontrolled descents, with some parts reportedly coming down on land.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook suggested the recently discovered space debris could become a tourist attraction, but de Zwart noted that under international space law, there’s an obligation to return pieces to the nation that owns it.

The Indian Space Research Organization has yet to make any public comment about the object, including whether it would like it back.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX shares spectacular close-up footage of Starship launch and landing
The Starship launching from Starbase in October 2024.

SpaceX has shared footage, which you can watch below, showing a spectacular close-up view of the Starship’s launch and landing on Sunday.

The mission involved the fifth test flight of the Starship, comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft.

Read more
SpaceX just caught a huge rocket booster for the first time. Now what?
Mechazilla catching Starship booster stage.

It was an astonishing spectacle. A 70-meter-tall SpaceX rocket performing a controlled descent toward a tiny target where two giant mechanical arms were waiting to clasp it just meters above the ground.

Sunday’s bold effort was SpaceX’s first try at “catching” the Super Heavy booster, and to many people’s surprise, it nailed it.

Read more
SpaceX could launch Starship on 5th test flight much earlier than expected
The world's most powerful rocket on the launchpad.

There’s growing expectation that SpaceX could launch the mighty Starship rocket as early as Sunday, October 13.

SpaceX was informed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month that it was unlikely to receive a launch permit until late November as the regulator needed time to complete work on its flight launch assessment.

Read more