Mystery object washed up on Australian beach could be from India's PSLV rocket: expert

A giant cylinder of unknown origin was found washed up on an Australian beach (Image credit: @AusSpaceAgency/Twitter)

Australian authorities have warned the public to steer clear of a mysterious object found washed up on a remote beach, noting that its origins remain unknown but that it could be part of a foreign space launch vehicle. The unidentified object was found near Green Head town in the Mid West coast on Sunday afternoon by a couple of area residents who saw it floating in water and dragged it out.

The Australian Space Agency shared details of the mysterious object in a Twitter thread on Monday afternoon, asking the public to avoid handling or attempting to move the object.

A picture shared by the space agency shows what resembles a giant, bronze-coloured metal cylinder lying on the beach. Some parts of the object appear to be covered in barnacles. Local resident Garth Griffiths told ABC News that the object is approximately 10 feet long and 8 feet wide. “It's a sort of semi-cylindrical object, made of light carbon fibre material like lightweight resin,” Griffiths 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

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— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) July 17, 2023

Western Australia police added that it is treating the object as “hazardous” and are still trying to determine its origins. The police force does not believe it came from a commercial aircraft, even as it urged the public to refrain from linking it to alien spacecraft theories.

While UFO conspiracy theories are still flying thick and fast, space experts believe the object could be a part of India’s satellite launch, The Independent reported. On April 22, 2023, ISRO’s PSLV-C55 rocket carrying the two Singapore satellites launched successfully from Sriharikota. The object is suspected to be the fuel tank of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

Last friday, people in Australia reported seeing a comet/UFO in the sky which turned out to be the LVM3 rocket that launched #Chandrayaan3.

And now, the third stage of a PSLV rocket has washed ashore on the coast of Green Head, Western Australia! #ISRO pic.twitter.com/FFVwhooSyE

— Debapratim (@debapratim_) July 17, 2023

Some speculated that the object might be debris from India’s more recent Chandrayaan-3 launch. However, others dismissed the idea, pointing out that barnacles attached the object indicate it was underwater for at least a few days.

“There are a lot of barnacles attached to the metal object. Barnacles typically take anywhere between 3 weeks and 2 months to attach. Chandrayaan 3 was launched just 4 days ago. No chance that belongs to Chandrayaan 3 mission,” wrote one Twitter user.

“We already solved this on Reddit. It's an Indian upper stage. Can exactly match the composite weave and hardware to publicly available photos from them,” another said.