Amelia Earhart Aircraft Expedition: Satellite Photos Spot Long-Lost Wreckage?

Satellite imagery is playing a key role in locating Amelia Earhart’s long-lost aircraft believed to be resting in a lagoon of the Pacific island Nikumaroro.

On the 88th anniversary of the disappearance of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, a new search — named the Taraia Object Expedition — will start this November.

The Taraia Object was spotted in satellite and other imagery in the island’s lagoon. Nikumaroro is roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

Multi-phase effort

Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) are joining forces in a multi-phase effort to identify Amelia Earhart’s missing Lockheed Model 10 Electra plane.

Earhart and Noonan went missing on July 2, 1937 as they attempted to fly around the world.

Given success of the initial expedition to identity the aircraft, PRF and ALI plan to return for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart’s plane.

The Taraia Object is visible in satellite images, aerial photos, drone footage, and video footage of the lagoon.

Satellite imagery

The object of interest was initially identified in 2020 in an Apple Maps image captured by satellite.

Following that observation, ALI, with funding from a small group of donors, obtained a series of 26 additional satellite images spanning the time between 2009 and 2021.

Subsequently, ALI acquired three more satellite images from Google Earth, spanning the time from 2022 through 2024. In these satellite images, the object first became noticeable on April 27, 2015, a time shortly after Topical Cyclone Pam passed by the island in late March 2015.

That storm produced brutal storm-surge impact on Nikumaroro, apparently removing sediment that had covered the Taraia Object and made it visible from above. The whatever it is was most sharply defined in 2015 and 2016, then became less sharply defined by 2020 and 2021, and appears in images from 2022 through 2024 as a recognizable shape probably covered by a thin veneer of sediment.

Fuselage, tail?

According to expedition experts, the object in the satellite images is exactly the right size to represent the fuselage and tail of the Electra. It also appears to be very reflective and is likely to be metallic. It lies in very shallow water, largely covered by sediment.

The possible confirmation that the Taraia Object is indeed the Electra aircraft is Phase 1 of a potential three-phase project to take place in following years, including full-scale archaeological excavation (Phase 2) and recovery (Phase 3) of the aircraft wreckage.

Furthermore, there is evidence that Earhart and Noonan were marooned on the island and subsequently perished there.

To view a compelling overview of the Taraia Object investigation by Richard Pettigrew, executive director of Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), go to this Heritage Broadcasting Service (HBS) video at:

https://heritagetac.org/programs/taraia_object_amelia_earharts_aircraft-71eb03

Also available is a review of satellite imagery at:

https://www.archaeologychannel.org/taraia/images/TaraiaObjectAnimation022525.mp4