The tiny West Australian town of Green Head became the centre of international attention this week after a large, mysterious cylindrical object washed up on its shoreline.
Key points:
- The object is suspected to be part of an Indian satellite-launching rocket
- An expert says there is an increased risk of space junk crashing down to Earth due to massive clusters of satellites used for internet connections
- The object has been removed from the beach and is under guard in a storage space
On Monday the Australian Space Agency suggested on Twitter that the object “could be from a foreign space launch vehicle”.
The canister was moved to a locked storage shed on Tuesday evening.
Authorities are now collaborating to work out what to do with the object, which remains under guard.
“Police [have] commenced discussions with several state agencies and the Shire of Coorow in relation to the planned safe movement and storage of the object, which will factor in additional precautions, given the unknown origin of the object,” a WA Police spokesperson said.
WA Premier Roger Cook has already flagged that the canister could be kept in a museum alongside parts of the Skylab space station, which was found in similar circumstances in 1979.
An increasing risk?
Space archaeologist and associate professor at Flinders University Alice Gorman said the object might have belonged to an Indian polar satellite launch vehicle.
She said it could be a fuel tank designed to fall away from a satellite-launching rocket to make the vehicle lighter.
Dr Gorman said with a growing number of mega-constellations aimed at improving internet access – such as SpaceX’s Starlink, comprised of more than 4,000 satellites – there was an increased risk that space junk could come hurtling back down.
“There are so many more launches than there used to be that it is likely we’re going to see more fuel tanks and other components ending up on Earth,” she said.
“Not to be alarmist or anything, but with the increase in launches and the distribution of re-entry events, it’s possibly only a matter of time before something does actually land on a populated area or causes harm to people or property or the environment or livestock.
“Nobody has to walk around looking above their heads in fear that a piece of space junk is going to fall on them and decimate them.
“But if that does happen, the Australian space agency will happily take up the cause and investigate for you.”
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Spacecraft cemetery
Research published last year by the University of British Columbia suggested nations in the global south could be at a higher risk.
Space agencies try to deliberately crash obsolete craft into the Indian Ocean between New Zealand and the Pacific Islands in an area known as the “spacecraft cemetery”.
“There is a part of the ocean, called Point Nemo, which is the furthest from land in any direction … so that they cause the least damage to the environment and reduces the risk of anything going wrong and then hitting people,” Dr Gorman said.
“People have seen the footage of the Indian rocket will have noticed that there are little things going on at the little barnacles and sea creatures growing on it.
“I believe that the spacecraft graveyard is a rich habitat for marine life.”
‘Safe story’ welcome
International news organisations picked up the story and online sleuths gathered on Reddit and Twitter to speculate about what the object was and where it came from.
Curtin University internet studies professor Tama Leaver said the news item was popular because it was a “safe story” unlikely to lead to political arguments or conspiracy theories.
“I think people are really enjoying having something to talk about that is genuinely interesting,” he said.
“The idea of satellites being up there for internet or telecommunications is a story that came straight out of science fiction.
“It’s a conversation we can all join in without feeling like it’s going to immediately sway into heated territory.”
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