Mystery object closes Western Australia beach with shock theory as to origin

Experts from ANU claim to have identified the mysterious object as 'space junk' washed up in WA. Photo / Reddit, General_Armadillo_72

A strange, cylindrical object which closed a beach in West Australia to visitors may have an extraordinary origin.

Australian Defence Force cordoned off an area of Green Head beach in around three hours north of Perth after the metal capsule washed ashore, covered in barnacles and sea debris. Shortly after being discovered by beachgoers on Sunday afternoon, the beach was cleared for public safety. And, if the current theory is to be believed, for good reason.

Experts from the Australian National University believe it may be debris from a fuel tank jettisoned from a space rocket and could be dangerous.

“My rule with space junk, it’s like Australian animals: don’t touch it unless you know what you’re doing. The fuel is usually carcinogenic, so exercising caution is important,” Dr Brad Tucker of ANU told The Age.

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

The two-metre tall space junk is made of greenish copper metal, and covered in barnacles, meaning it could have been at sea for some time. Community members who spotted the object took photos of the space oddity with their children playing around it.

Users of an internet forum specialising in identifying space junk reddit/space were quick to speculate. Among the 20 million space enthusiasts, members claimed to have narrowed it down to a fuel tank from an Indian LVM3-M4.

Redditors claim to have identified the object as an Indian Made PSLV Rocket. Photo / r/space

The Australian Space Agency agreed that it was likely that the object “could be from a foreign space launch vehicle.”

In a tweet, the national space agency said it was “liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information.”

A spokesperson for WA Police said that the object was being treated as hazardous until determined otherwise and that people should avoid gathering at the beach.

A statement from WA Police published by the Daily Mail said the public should “refrain from drawing conclusions”.

“At this early stage it appears the object did not originate from a commercial aircraft.”

An unidentified object washed up on a beach in Western Australia. It looks very similar to this type of rocket fuel tank on an Indian PSLV-C launcher... #Space #SpaceJunk pic.twitter.com/HQgP2RaKmw

— Jacob Tinley (@JacobTinley1) July 17, 2023

This is not the first time Perth has been littered with space junk. In 1979 the state was showered with debris from the SkyLab space station, which fell to earth around 500km east of Perth.

Esperance Shire in south WA fined the US space agency Nasa for littering - issuing the science body with a $430 penalty.