Australia probes mystery space balls that washed up on beach

Forrest Beach Takeaway owner Lisa Scobie said the local community was curious to know their origin.

"It's very quiet, not a lot happens here. So having a lot of extra activity... that definitely created a little bit of excitement," she told public broadcaster ABC.

It is not the first time, however, that such mysterious objects have been spotted on Australia's shoreline.

In 2023, India confirmed that a giant metal dome that washed up on a Western Australian beach near Perth was from one of its rockets.

India's space agency spokesman later told the BBC that it was from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV).

A spherical object similar to those discovered this weekend was also found in remote grassland in Namibia, southern Africa, in 2011.

Experts at the time said they believed it was most likely a fuel tank or bladder tank containing hydrazine - a highly volatile propellant - from an unmanned rocket.