Queensland: The six large mysterious balls found on a beach in Australia’s Queensland on Sunday have now been identified by authorities as “space debris”.
The question doing the rounds is whether they are from an Indian rocket.
In 2023, India had reportedly confirmed that a large metal dome found on a beach near Perth in western Australia belonged to one of its rockets, Hindustan Times reported.
A spokesperson for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had reportedly told the BBC at that time that the object was part of one of the organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV).
In a post on X, the Australian Space Agency (ASA) has said the six solid spheres “appear to be pressure vessels from a space launch vehicle”.
The ASA is working with international authorities to formally confirm which launch vehicle they came from, it added.
The objects reportedly washed ashore at Forrest Beach near Townsville. Following the discovery, authorities temporarily closed part of the beach and established a 50-metre exclusion zone as a precaution.
“The objects’ location and characteristics are consistent with debris from a foreign rocket body that recently re-entered the atmosphere from orbit”, the ASA said in its latest post.
Footage of the spheres was reviewed by Alice Gorman, associate professor, space archaeologist and expert on space debris at Flinders University. The objects did not appear to show signs of burning or scorching, she noted.
“This suggests they might be from a rocket stage – perhaps a first or second stage – that has fallen back to Earth while the rest of the stage goes on to deliver a payload into space,” she told The Guardian.
There was also a possibility the objects were not linked to the space industry and could instead have come from the sea, she said. However, she warned that if they were rocket components, they might still contain traces of hydrazine, a highly toxic rocket fuel.
There is also speculation that the spheres could be propellant tanks from a spacecraft, meaning they might still hold small amounts of a highly flammable or reactive substance, the BBC reported.
The spheres were placed into hazardous material containers by officials wearing protective suits, even as the police secured the area.
The discovery has led to a buzz in an area where there is little excitement.
“It’s very quiet, not a lot happens here. So having a lot of extra activity… that definitely created a little bit of excitement,” Forrest Beach Takeaway owner Lisa Scobie told public broadcaster ABC.
