On July 17, a mysterious dome-shaped thing that washed up on the beach of Australia surprised everyone. It was found on Green Head Beach, about 155 miles north of the Western Australian Perth.
It was claimed that it could be the debris of Chandrayaan-3. However, the Indian Space Agency had rejected it outright. On Monday, Australia’s Space Agency said that the Cupola object was the debris of the Indian rocket.
The agency has said it is part of the PSLV launch vehicle separated on the third stage. ISRO has also agreed that the debris could be from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rockets.
An ISRO official said it was possibly an unburnt part of the PSLV rocket launched two months ago for a navigation satellite. The official said that this satellite was launched in the southern direction.
We have concluded the object located on a beach near Jurien Bay in Western Australia is most likely debris from an expended third-stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
The PSLV is a medium-lift launch vehicle operated by @isro.
[More in comments] pic.twitter.com/ivF9Je1Qqy
— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) July 31, 2023
It is possible that while re-entering the atmosphere, a portion of the rocket may not have burned completely and may have fallen into the ocean, after which it may have drifted towards the Australian coast. The Australian Space Agency has collected the debris and is working with ISRO.
At present, this 2-meter-high piece has been kept in storage. India is also cooperating in its investigation under the United Nations Space Treaty. The ISRO official said the agency is yet to take a call on it.
The official further said it is now up to Australia what it will do with the item. He said it was too early to tell whether an ISRO team would visit Australia to identify the space debris.
Let us tell you that this is not the first time that space debris has been found in Australia. Last year, a part of Elon Musk’s Space X mission was also found in a paddock in New South Wales State. Earlier in May 2021, a large amount of a 25-tonne Chinese rocket fell into the Indian Ocean.
