Mysterious 8-Foot Unidentified Space Object Washed Up on Australian Beach Solved

The Australian Space Agency concluded the investigation about a space junk that washed ashore on Green Head Beach earlier this month. According to the agency, the remains were from a spacecraft operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Unidentified Space Object From ISRO-Operated PSLV

The 8-foot metallic cylinder found on a beach close to Jurien Bay in Western Australia is most likely third-stage debris from an exhausted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) used by the Indian Space Research Organization, Australian Space Agency said in Newsweek.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) oversees the PSLV, a medium-lift launch vehicle. Several "stages" are frequently present in rockets, each equipped with an engine and fuel to help the payload reach orbit or higher.

Typically, the first stage is the biggest, and the size gets smaller with each subsequent step. Once their fuel is used, these other objects are launched into space or allowed to re-enter the atmosphere, where they often burn up.

According to Alice Gorman of Flinders University in Australia, specializing in space archaeology, our portion is primarily the fuel containment vessel. The rocket's fourth stage lifts off into Earth orbit, while the third stage ignites and burns until it uses up the fuel. According to statistics, it's a miracle that there were so few collisions.

In a previous report from Science Times, there were speculations that the bizarre space junk was the third stage of the LVM3 rocket of India, which launched the Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission on July 14. However, not everyone was convinced by the idea because they noticed the presence of barnacles, algae, and other marine organisms on the object, indicating that it may have been there for more than three days.

At the time, some theorized that it was the third stage of a PSLV. The conclusion from Australian Space Agency's investigation confirmed that they were right.

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New Tech For Tracking Space Junk

Space is getting congested due to thousands of satellites, but ODIN Space of London is working on cleaning it up. Earlier this month, the company made a milestone after sending the D-Orbit ION satellite that detects mild acoustic vibrations from host satellites into orbit.

To ensure that even the smallest readings from the ION satellite could be captured during this demonstration mission, ODIN's debris sensor had its sensitivity tuned to an incredibly high level.

There are currently tens of thousands of trackable debris fragments orbiting the Earth. This number is expected to increase significantly during the 2030s and beyond as the space industry develops.

The technology can only track debris over 4 inches (10 cm). ODIN believes its method will simplify tracking the sub-centimeter debris, which travels at practically bullet speed and is nearly invisible. It is hazardous to satellites, space stations, and other on-orbit infrastructure.