SCIENTISTS are set to travel to the Pacific in a bid to solve one of the greatest mysteries of modern times – the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
In just over a month, a team of experts will travel to an island in the western Pacific Ocean called Nikumaroro.
Purdue UniversityThe Taraia Object is a visual anomaly in the lagoon of the island[/caption]
APShe was attempting to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe[/caption]
There they will investigate the Taraia Object and whether it could be Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra 10E plane.
The Taraia Object is a visual anomaly in the lagoon of the island.
The mysterious object was first identified on satellite imagery back in 2020.
It was later confirmed that the object can be seen in photos of the island as far back as 1938 – a year after the tragedy took place.
Earhart was travelling with her navigator Fred Noonan when she disappeared in July 1937.
At the time, she was attempting to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe.
However, her whereabouts has been a mystery ever since.
A popular theory is that the plane crashed into the sea when it ran out of fuel and then sank.
Both Earhart and Noonan were either killed on impact or were unable to escape the sinking aircraft and drowned.
Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), is part of the team travelling to the tropical island.
He said: “Finding Amelia Earhart’s Electra aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime.”
He added that there was an “extremely persuasive, multifaceted case” that Nikumaroro Island was indeed the pair’s final destination.
The three-week long expedition will fly out from Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette, Indiana on October 30.
Upon arriving in Majuro in the Marshall Islands, a 15-person crew will travel by sea on November 4 to Nikumaroro.
Once they complete the 1,200 nautical mile journey, they will spend several days on the five-mile-long island.
Their work will focus on the Taraia Object – which visually resembles an aircraft fuselage and tail.
As part of the expedition, the team will first document the site through photos and videos before using remote sensing techniques.
Only then will the team undergo the painstaking process of underwater excavation to bring the object to the surface for definitive identification.
The team will also conduct an exploration of nearby islands to search for any debris that may have washed up in the waves.
Only then – with the mystery finally solved – will the expedition return to Majuro on November 4.
The next step would be to return what is left the wreckage to the US and Purdue University.
The aviation icon spent two years working as a women’s career counselor and advisor in the university’s aeronautics department.
Experts previously thought they’d made a breakthrough when they noticed code on a aluminium panel found washed up on Nikumaroro in 1991 believed to be part of her missing aircraft.
However, further analysis revealed that it actually belonged to a plane that crashed during World War Two at least six years later.
A separate team of scientists claimed they had successfully pinpointed the location of the wreckage as nearby Howland Island using a radio restored from 1937.
In the same vein, an explorer believed he found her lost aircraft using sonar technology.
All this comes after the news last month that President Donald Trump that would order the release of all documents relating to the iconic female pilot.
APOne theory is that the plane crashed into the sea and sank[/caption]
AlamyShe spent two years working at Purdue University[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
