Chennai, July 19 (Representative) A space debris–a huge metallic object– from a foreignlaunch vehicle has been washed shore on a beach near Jurien Bay in WesternAustralia and it was not known whether it was part of ISRO’s PSLV launch vehiclethat could have been flown long back. In a tweet, the Australian Space Agency said “We are currently making enquiriesrelated 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 withglobal counterparts who may be able to provide more information”, it said.”As the origin of the object is unknown, the community should avoid handling orattempting to move the object”, it said. “If the community spot any further suspected debris they should report it to localauthorities and notify the Australian Space Agency via [email protected]”,the tweet said. “We are committed to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities, includingdebris mitigation, and continue to highlight this on the international stage”, it added.
Meanwhile, speculations were rife that the debris might be part of a PSLV launchvehicle of ISRO that would have been launched long time back. ISRO sources could neither confirm nor deny whether the huge object thathad washed ashore in Western Australia beach near Jurien Bay was part ofits PSLV rocket.”Without seeing it in person and checking it, nothing could be said (whetherit is a debris of PSLV)”, the sources said. “We cannot confirm or deny anything about it without seeing it in person andchecking it”, they said. It could be ascertained only after the Australian space agency sends a videoof the object that has been washed ashore. “We have to see if there are any markings on it. If required, ISRO officialscan go there to confirm whether it belongs to an Indian rocket or not”, thesources said, adding, without seeing it nothing could be confirmed on whetherit was part of an Indian launch vehicle. Report said that the Australian Space Agency has approached ISRO in thisregard to ascertain about the nature of the object that has been washedashore and to confirm whether it was part of its launch vehicle or not.