Mystery object that washed up on the Australian coast could be space junk, officials say

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Authorities are investigating whether a cylindrical object about the size of a small car that washed up on a remote Australian beach is space junk from a foreign rocket. Police had cordoned off the object after it was discovered at Green Head about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the west coast city of Perth late Sunday. The Australian Space Agency said it was liaising with other space agencies to identify the object, which appears to be partly made of a woven material. European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd said her colleagues believed the item that washed up from the Indian Ocean fell from an Indian rocket while launching a satellite.