Amelia Earhart mystery continues after search based on ‘satellite photo of plane’
The disappearance of Amelia Earhart continues to be a mystery after a satellite image offered hopes of a breakthrough.
A US expedition by the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University, voyaged to a remote atoll in the South Pacific to track down an object they believed to be the aviator’s plane.
However, on Monday, the team behind the Taraia Object expedition found “no conclusive evidence” to confirm their theory. They say the satellite imagery, which was first seen in 2020, was likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula’s sandspit.
By the time the team arrived at the site, most of the debris had fragmented and washed away. Only a single Y-shaped segment remained, a fraction of the original size observed when the Taraia Object hypothesis was developed.
The fragment’s reflective surface, long thought to mean that the object was a metallic substance, was due to its carbonate veneer. Other items found by the team were similarly coated with a shiny concretised amalgam of coral sand.
Despite the setback, Rick Pettigrew, ALI’s executive director, said the team remains in “great spirits” and is proud of what they accomplished.
“Amelia Earhart’s spirit of courage and curiosity drove every step of the search,” he added.
“We accomplished our goal to determine what the Taraia Object was as we’re deeply grateful to the private donors who shared our vision and made this journey possible.”
Steve Schultz, Purdue general counsel and expedition member, said: “Perhaps no words better capture this expedition than Amelia Earhart’s own: ‘Adventure is worthwhile in itself.’”
Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane and is regarded as one of the most celebrated aviation pioneers of our time.
On July 2, 1937, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan left Lae in Papua New Guinea on the third-to-last leg of her round-the-world flight attempt.
The pair were heading to Howland Island, around 400 miles northwest of Nikumaroro, when they vanished.
The US launched one of the largest air-sea searches in history, spending two weeks exploring an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Texas.
