A car-sized object that washed ashore in western Australia is thought to be space junk

Investigation underway to identify cylindrical object, size of small car, washed up on remote Australian beach. Believed to be upper-stage engine from Indian rocket. Police cordoned off area, chemical analysis showed no risk to public. Removal to follow formal identification.

Authorities were investigating on July 18 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 barnacle-encrusted object after it was discovered at Green Head about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the city of Perth late July 16 .

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.

“The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information,” the agency tweeted.

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.

“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 told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Whoever launched the object into space would be responsible for its disposal.