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New Amelia Earhart search set to begin after mysterious object discovered deep in the Pacific
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A fresh search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft remains is set to launch later this week, almost 90 years after her disappearance.
Back in the 1930s, the Kansas native became one of the world's most accomplished explorers, setting a precedent as the first-ever woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
She also set numerous aviation records while advocating for equal rights for women, before setting herself an impossible goal.
In 1937, she set out to circumnavigate the world, undertaking the 29,000-mile journey with navigator Fred Noonan.
When she set off from New Guinea with the plan of refueling on July 2, 1937, she, Noonan and the plane would vanish.
Nearly 100 years on, there is still no trace of the plane or the remains of those onboard despite the efforts of several search teams.
Search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft underway
Researchers will soon descend upon the island of Nikumaroro in the Pacific Ocean, hoping to finally find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane.
Following their disappearance nearly 100 years ago, a 16-day search was carried out by authorities, but they were officially declared dead in January 1939.
They may be gone, but they haven't been forgotten.
Now, the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), Purdue Research Foundation (PRF), and Purdue University are sending a team of 17 on an expedition to the region to solve the mystery, once and for all.
According to the university, the expedition will involve nearly three weeks of travel, with the group travelling to the island to search for 'a visual anomaly' identified in satellite imagery.
The shape found in Nikumaroro's lagoon is thought to be Earhart's elusive Lockheed Electra 10-E plane.
A team from Purdue University claimed they had located the plane off the coast of the remote island in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji.
The site is near her intended flight path and the location where four distress calls were traced, providing compelling evidence.
Researcher Michael Ashmore first spotted the object in an Apple Maps image in 2020, despite the image being taken in 2015.
New photos of the area have since been captured.
ALI executive director comments on expedition
Dr. Richard Pettigrew, the executive director who is leading the upcoming trip, spoke more about the upcoming trip, which is set to begin in a few days' time.
In a new release published on Monday (September 28), he wrote: "With just a week to go before the launch of our expedition, my conscious focus is on the execution of our fieldwork plan.
"Inevitably, though, this comes with an array of strong feelings. I’m intensely and eternally grateful to the many individuals and organizations who have helped to make our vision real."
Pettigrew added: "I feel truly lucky to be in a position to possibly solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time, whether or not that happens," the ALI director concluded.
They are expected to land back in Tarawa around October 22 before flying home.