What is the mysterious object washed up on the coast of Australia?

A mysterious cylindrical object, apparently made of copper and badly gnawed by time, has just arrived on the coast of Australia, leaving a cloak of doubt about its origin, even opening up the hypothesis that it is a hat made of rocket.

A large cylindrical object washed ashore near Jurien Bay, about 137 miles (220 km) north of Perth, according to The Guardian, and local residents alerted authorities on Sunday. According to an Australian public broadcaster, a local couple spotted him at the water’s edge and used their four-wheel drive vehicle to haul a metal cylinder ashore.

Officials from the state fire department arrived to conduct a chemical analysis of the site, determining that it was safe and did not pose a risk to the public, reports The Guardian. The Australian Space Agency is asking the community to “avoid handling or attempting to move the object” as the object’s origin remains unknown. Police are currently guarding the facility to preserve the objectivity of the federal and state investigation, according to the BBC.

The main theory comes from space:

“The object may be from a foreign space launch vehicle, and we are in contact with global partners who can provide additional information,”[[” embedded url link data-uri=”b3f832bda8e5ecfbf2e72bb5dedb8f36″>explicó la Agencia Espacial Australiana en un tweet.

En declaraciones a The Guardian, la experta en arqueología espacial Alice Gorman dijo que el objeto es probablemente un cilindro de combustible que se originó en la tercera etapa del Vehículo de Lanzamiento de Satélites Polares (PSLV) de la India, un cohete de carga media que despega rutinariamente del Centro Espacial Satish Dhawan de la Organización de Investigación Espacial de la India.