Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath has said that the giant metal dome that was found on an Australian beach was definitely part of a rocket, but cannot be claimed to be Indian without analysis of it.
There have been speculations about the object ever since it was discovered at Green Head beach, about 250km (155 miles) north of Perth in Australia.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath has said that the giant metal dome that was found on an Australian beach was definitely part of a rocket, but cannot be claimed to be Indian without analysis of it.
Somanath, according to a BBC report, said: "We can't confirm it's ours unless we analyse it.”
Earlier, there have been speculations about the object ever since it was discovered at Green Head beach, about 250km (155 miles) north of Perth, at the weekend.
Many had claimed that it may be from India's latest Moon mission launch last Friday but experts quickly ruled that out.
“The cylindrical object, about 2.5m wide and between 2.5m and 3m long, has generated a lot of excitement among the residents of Green Head beach,” mentioned the report.
It was initially speculated that the wreckage could be a part of MH370 - a Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing off the west Australian coast in 2014 with 239 passengers on board, the report said.
The report quoting aviation experts said the item couldn't have come from a commercial aircraft and that it was possibly a fuel tank from a rocket that had fallen into the Indian Ocean at some stage.
The Australian Space Agency then said it was possible the giant cylinder could have fallen from a "foreign space launch vehicle", it said.
This resulted in speculation that the object was a fuel tank of a PSLV - the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles that the ISRO regularly uses to launch satellites into space, it mentioned.
“Since one was most recently used last Friday to send the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbit, it led to speculation that the debris came from that - despite experts saying the object had been in the water for at least a few months. Photos showing its extensive barnacle cover support that argument,” it said.
Somanath, as per the report, said that there was "no mystery" about the object, confirming that "it is part of some rocket".
"It could be a PSLV or any other and unless we see and analyse it, it cannot be confirmed," he was quoted as having said.