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Scientists could be on verge of solving 89-year Amelia Earhart mystery after spotting object from space
On a mission to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, a team of scientists is travelling 830 miles to examine an object they believe could be related to her vanishing.
The group set off on the epic journey to a remote atoll with the hopes of finding the answers to questions that have remained unanswered for 89 years.
The team are making a treacherous journey to investigate
Earhart vanished in 1937 while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.
Nine decades later, researchers from the US-based Archeological Legacy Institute (ALI) and Purdue University are on their way to the remote Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific Ocean to investigate a wreck found by satellite in 2020.
The wreck, now called the Taraia object, which visually resembles an aircraft fuselage and tail, was later confirmed to be seen in photos of the island as far back as 1938.
The scientists are making the journey aboard the Marin Mainiku, a Kiribati National Shipping Line vessel, which will have to navigate a narrow gap in the atoll’s reef.
They left Kiribati’s remote capital on Wednesday, October 7, and are heading towards the tiny remote island of Nikumaroro.
Expedition leader Richard Pettigrew said: “Finding Amelia Earhart’s Electra aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime.”
It is not the first time scientists thought they found the aircraft
While little is known about how Earhart’s aircraft vanished, it is believed her Lockheed Electra 10E plane crashed into the sea when it ran out of fuel. Navigator Fred Noonan was also aboard when she disappeared.
It has long been thought that Earhart and Noonan were killed on impact or were unable to escape the sinking aircraft and drowned.
On arrival, the team of scientists will document the site through photos and videos before using remote sensing techniques, then going underwater to excavate the object in order for it to be examined.
They will also explore the surroundings and nearby islands to search for any debris that may have washed up. Whatever they do find will be returned to the US and Purdue University to be investigated further.
Although this breakthrough seems promising, it is not the first time experts thought they found a part of the missing aircraft, but the discovery in 1991 turned out to be part of a plane that crashed during World War II at least six years after Earhart's disappearance.
On a separate occasion, a team of scientists claimed they had successfully pinpointed the location of the wreckage as nearby Howland Island using a radio restored from 1937.