Is space junk on Australian beach linked to Indian rocket?

A dome-shaped mysterious object has washed up on a remote Australian beach, amid speculation it could be from a 20-year-old Indian rocket used for launching a satellite.

The canister was discovered near the beach in Green Head in Western Australia (WA) about 250 km north of Perth last Saturday (15).

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources confirmed receipt of a formal communication from the Australian Space Agency. However, they did not provide any details.

The object has been declared a piece of space junk, while national agencies, including the Australian Space Agency (ASA), continue working to identify its origin.

"At this time, it is believed the item is space debris and will be managed as such until it can be determined otherwise," Western Australia Police said in a statement.

However, a space expert says the object could be from a 20-year-old Indian rocket.

European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd said experts believed the item fell from an Indian rocket launching a satellite, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"We're pretty sure based on the shape and the size, it is an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that's used for a lot of different missions," she said.

"Based on the amount of barnacles, it's probably not the one from this year," she said. She said it could be 20 years old, the report added.

"But at the same time, when it gets thrown around the ocean it does tend to look older than it would normally."

Boyd said the engine was designed to fall off after the launch.

"It takes a lot of effort to get up to orbit, so the first and second and third stage (engines) usually fall off and end up in the Indian Ocean, so it's probably come from that with the currents and washed up on the beach," she said.

Australian National University astrophysicist Dr Doris Grosse and Flinders University space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman both believed it was likely a fuel cylinder from the third stage of a launch by India's space agency, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.

After analysis of the object, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Chemistry Centre of WA found it posed no risk to the community.

But Boyd said it was important people did not touch the object.

"It might still have some residual fuel and you just don't want to get people touching that," she said.