Amid reports that the mystery space junk discovered on an Australian beach belonged to the ISRO, the space agency said it can't confirm whether or not the giant metal dome belonged to it.
ISRO chief S Somanath said the canister-like object was indeed part of a rocket. "We can't confirm it's ours unless we analyse it," S Somanath told the BBC.
His response comes amid reports that the object found at Green Head beach north of Perth was space junk and could be part of India's space mission.
The cylindrical object, about 2.5m wide and between 2.5m and 3m long, was covered with barnacles, prompting Australian authorities to confirm that the object was lying in water for some time. The Western Australia Police Force said the item is believed to be "space debris" and according to the Australian Space Agency, it could be an "object from a foreign space launch vehicle."
However, Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist from Flinders University in Adelaide, said the cylinder is likely the third phase of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) previously launched by India. "It is identical in dimension and materials,” Gorman told CNN.
European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd too said the item fell off an Indian rocket. "We're pretty sure based on the shape and the size, it is an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that's used for a lot of different missions," she said. "Based on the amount of barnacles, it's probably not the one from this year," she said.
Boyd said the engine was designed to fall off after the launch. "It takes a lot of effort to get up to orbit, so the first and second and third stage (engines) usually fall off and end up in the Indian Ocean, so it's probably come from that with the currents and washed up on the beach," she said.
To this, Somnath said it could be a PSLV or any other. "Unless we see and analyse it, it cannot be confirmed," he said. The ISRO chief, however, added that some of the PSLV parts are known to have fallen in the sea beyond Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone and the object may have been floating for a long time and finally reached shore.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities are now treating the item as a "hazardous" item and have urged people to keep a safe distance as it could contain toxic materials.