Mystery object that washed up on Australian coast could be a piece of Indian rocket: Space experts
Melbourne (PTI): A dome-shaped mysterious object has washed up on a remote Australian beach, amid speculation that it could be from a 20-year-old Indian rocket that was used for launching a satellite.
The canister was discovered near the beach in Green Head in Western Australia (WA) about 250 kilometres north of the city of Perth on Saturday. When contacted by PTI, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources confirmed receipt of a formal communication from the Australian Space Agency. However, they did not provide the details.
The bizarre-looking object has been declared a piece of space junk, while national agencies, including the Australian Space Agency (ASA), continue working to identify its origin.
The copper-coloured bulky cylinder, which stands taller than a human, appears to be damaged at one end and is covered with barnacles, indicating that it has spent a significant amount of time at sea before washing up.
"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," the ASA said in a series of tweets on Monday.
As the origin of the object is unknown, the community should avoid handling or attempting to move the object, it said, adding that if the community spot any further suspected debris they should report it to local authorities and notify the agency.
"We are committed to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities, including debris mitigation, and continue to highlight this on the international stage," the agency said.
In a statement, Western Australia Police said that it is believed the item is space debris and will be managed as such until it can be determined otherwise. However, a space expert says the object could be from a 20-year-old Indian rocket.
European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd said experts believed the item fell from an Indian rocket launching a satellite, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
"We're pretty sure based on the shape and the size, it is an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that's used for a lot of different missions," she said.
"Based on the amount of barnacles, it's probably not the one from this year," she said. She said it could be 20 years old, the report added.
"But at the same time, when it gets thrown around the ocean it does tend to look older than it would normally."
Boyd said the engine was designed to fall off after the launch.
"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, so it's probably come from that with the currents and washed up on the beach," she said.
Within an hour of the first media report on the unusual find, many social media users already came up with a theory the object was a piece of space junk from an Indian rocket, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.
Space experts agreed, with Australian National University astrophysicist Dr Doris Grosse and Flinders University space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman believing it was likely a fuel cylinder from the third stage of a launch by India's space agency, it said.
Some even theorised the debris could have come from a specific mission PSLV-CA C46 which launched in May 2019 and dropped some debris in the ocean to Australia's north-west and south-east, the report added.
Police earlier labelled the object as "hazardous" as they worked to identify if there was a risk to the community.
After analysis of the object, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Chemistry Centre of WA found it posed no risk to the community. But Boyd said it was important people did not touch the object.
"It might still have some residual fuel and you just don't want to get people touching that," she said.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said the object could end up at the WA Museum.
"I did make the observation this morning that perhaps this will be an addition to the Sky Lab pieces that we have in the museum and might add to our growing collection of space debris that seems to be collecting in WA," he said.
Space debris both man-made and natural has a habit of coming down in WA's vast outback, although it is rare for it to be found washed up on the state's 12,895 kilometres of coastline. Most famously, the Skylab space station came hurtling back to Earth in 1979, with pieces of the rogue station found in the most remote of outback locations in Balladonia, north-east of Esperance in WA's south.
The local council hit NASA with a USD 400 littering fine, which reportedly remains unpaid. But scientists with their eyes trained on the skies have also recovered fragments of space rocks which have made it through the atmosphere and slammed into the ground in WA's outback.
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Kangana Ranaut shown black flags in Himachal's Lahaul and Spiti, BJP files complaint with CEO
Shimla, May 20: Actor Kangana Ranaut, BJP candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, was shown black flags by local people and Congress workers at Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti on Monday.
The Himachal Pradesh BJP filed a complaint with the state chief electoral officer (CEO) demanding transfer of election officials and an investigation into the incident as both the BJP and the Congress were given permission to hold rallies adjacent to each other.
The Congress workers raised anti-Kangana slogans - "Kangana, go back, Kangana Vangana nahi chalegi". They were apparently enraged over her remarks on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in April last year.
Ranaut had tweeted a meme featuring the Dalai Lama that said, "The Dalai Lama receives a warm welcome at the White house". The photoshopped picture in the tweet showed the Dalai Lama sticking his tongue out with US President Joe Biden with a comment - Both of them have the same illness, definitely they could be friends.
Following this, a group of Buddhists staged a dharna outside her office in Mumbai.
Later she apologised saying she didn't mean to hurt anyone, and it was a harmless joke about Biden being friends with the Dalai Lama.
Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jai Ram Thakur, who had accompanied Ranaut to Kaza to campaign for the BJP, on Monday alleged that the Congress workers tried to disturb the meeting of the BJP and pelted stones on their carcade while they were returning.
Talking to reporters, he said, "It is unfortunate that for the first time, permission was given to hold a parallel rally at the venue to the Congress where prior permission was already granted to the BJP to hold the rally.
Efforts were made to disturb our rally and the Congress workers raised shameful slogans, stopped our carcade and pelted stones, injuring one person."
Thakur added that they go for campaigning all over the state but such things have happened for the first time, which shows "frustration" of the Congress and they would take up the issue with the Election Commission.
Later, in a complaint filed with the Himachal Pradesh CEO, BJP state office secretary Parmod Kumar Thakur said the Congress workers allegedly tried to illegally restrain the political procession and even pelted stones and demanded an investigation into the incident.
"The district administration granted permission for organising a political meeting to the Congress adjacent to the place already scheduled to hold a political meeting of the BJP at Kaza under undue influence of the state government in utter violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)", he said.
In the complaint, the BJP demanded the immediate transfer of election officials from Lahaul and Spiti and said giving permission to both the parties at the same location at the same time was a "big lapse" on the part of the Election Commission "in spite of the fact that permission to the BJP was provided first and the officers involved in this act are biased against the BJP, and free and fair elections are doubtful under the circumstances."
Lahaul and Spiti SP Mayank Chowdhary told PTI that workers of both the BJP and the ruling Congress came face to face but there was no clash and no person was injured. However, one worker sprained his leg, he added.
Bhishan Shashni, Congress election coordinator for Lahaul and Spiti claimed that the Congress workers were peacefully protesting but a large number of people, who were hurt by Ranaut's remarks about the Tibetan spiritual leader, joined the protest.
Earlier, Congress candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh had asked why Ranaut did not visit Spiti and returned from Reckong Peo alleging that she was afraid she would be shown black flags for her remarks against the Dalai Lama.
