Forest Beach in Queensland, Australia, recently welcomed some unusual visitors that appeared to have washed ashore from the ocean. Upon closer inspection, however, authorities realized the mysterious black spheres had actually fallen from space. The discovery prompted the Queensland Fire Department to urge the public to stay away while crews assessed whether the objects posed any danger.
According to People, Alice Gorman, an associate professor at Flinders University who specializes in space archaeology, refers to the spherical objects as “space balls.” She explained, “Many rockets and spacecraft have liquid fuel systems that involve fuels under high pressure that are in these pressure vessels made over robust material. These parts of the fuel system often survive because their melting points are higher than the temperature coming back through the atmosphere.”
