What are the mysterious space balls washing up on an Australian beach?

Six pieces of large, mysterious silver debris washed up on a beach in North Queensland, Australia, over the weekend. The solid objects discovered on Forrest Beach, north of Townsville, Queensland, were thought to be space debris.

On Monday (July 6), the Australian Space Agency (ASA) said they "appear to be pressure vessels from a space launch vehicle," the BBC reported.

However, the agency added that it is working with international authorities to officially confirm the launch vehicle, the origin of the mysterious objects and whether they pose any risk to the public. On Sunday (July 5), police said that debris was suspected of containing hazardous chemicals.

According to an expert the Guardian spoke to, this suspected space debris could be “space balls” that are often left over from rocket launches.

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We take a look.

Where the probe stands on mysterious space debris

ASA's latest statement noted: "The objects' location and characteristics are consistent with debris from a foreign rocket body that recently re-entered the atmosphere from orbit," according to the BBC.

Confirming that a total of six objects were recovered from the beach area, the spokesperson for the Queensland Fire Department on Sunday (July 5) said five were safely "secured into drums," while the sixth was being "rendered safe."

In a post on X, the department shared the statement, "Specialist QFR Scientific teams have safely secured a number of the items throughout the weekend and remain on scene continuing their work. A 50-metre exclusion zone is still in place."

Read the post here:

The department also urged residents not to touch any similar objects if encountered and to report them immediately or call the emergency services.

According to Forrest Beach Takeaway owner Lisa Scobie, the locals were curious to know their origin. "It's very quiet, not a lot happens here. So having a lot of extra activity... that definitely created a little bit of excitement," she told ABC.

What experts are suggesting

Associate Professor Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist and space expert at Flinders University in Australia, said they may be connected to a rocket launch.

After reviewing the news footage, Gorman told the Guardian that the objects did not seem to have "evidence of burning or scorching."

“This suggests they might be from a rocket stage – perhaps a first or second stage – that has fallen back to Earth while the rest of the stage goes on to deliver a payload into space,” she said.

“...They’re actually known as space balls, and they can be found years after a launch. It is perhaps not something that anyone would have seen [landing]," Gorman explained.

However, she also noted that if these solid objects were space balls, they may have still contained some traces of hydrazine- a highly toxic rocket fuel.

Gorman then speculated, "They could be from a Russian Fregat rocket which used similar pressure vessels in its fuel stages," the report noted.

However, this is not the first time such a suspected object has been found on Australia's shoreline.

According to a BBC report, a giant metal dome from one of its rockets was washed up on a Western Australian beach near Perth, India confirmed in 2023. "It was from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV)," India's space agency spokesman later told the publication.

In 2011, spherical objects similar to those found this weekend were also discovered in a remote grassland in Namibia, southern Africa.

With inputs from agencies