A huge copper-colored metal cylinder appeared on a beach in Western Australia on Sunday, and at first neither the locals who found it nor the police who received the report could say what it could be. Since then, it has been revealed that the mysterious object is not dangerous according to the official police statement, and experts hypothesize that part of the fuel tank of an Indian space rocket may have been washed ashore by water, as he writes: guardian.
As you can see from the footage uploaded to the internet, the cylinder was badly damaged and also looks like it spent some time in the ocean. The police have not yet been able to say what they found, but they have already declared that it is not a piece of a commercial aircraft, and they have confirmed that it is not a piece of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared in 2014. They also added that once the cylinder is identified, it will be removed from the site.
The Australian Space Agency is also investigating the case, as it seems very likely that a piece of another country’s space rocket was found. It is exactly the fuel tank of the Chandrajan-3 space rocket launched last Friday, with which India launched its third lunar mission.
According to space archaeologist Dr. Alice Gorman, this could also be the case, and as she puts it, “It’s strange that such a large piece could have stayed together.” Gorman also added that the police did the right thing by not letting anyone near the body, because even though the tank is probably full of dirt and sand now, rocket fuel is very harmful to health.