Researchers Launch Pacific Expedition To Inspect Possible Amelia Earhart Wreckage
A new mission could provide definitive physical evidence about the fate of the American aviator nearly nine decades after her disappearance.
A team of researchers from Purdue University, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute is launching an expedition to investigate an underwater anomaly in the South Pacific. The mission focuses on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the island nation of Kiribati.
Scientists are targeting a submerged feature known as the Taraia Object. Researcher Michael Ashmore first identified the shape in 2020 on satellite images dating to 2015. The anomaly lies in the island's lagoon, just east of the Tatiman Passage.
Researchers later traced a similar visual outline in aerial imagery of the lagoon dating back to 1938. The dimensions of the shape, estimated between 12 and 14 meters long, match the size of Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra 10E. The aircraft had been funded in part by the Purdue Research Foundation.
The project is led by Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute. Pettigrew said previous evidence shows that it is possible the object is the missing aircraft. The government of Kiribati granted official regulatory approval for the mission in July. The trip was previously postponed in late 2025 because of permitting steps and the Pacific cyclone season.
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937, while flying from Lae, New Guinea, toward Howland Island. An extensive search by the United States government failed to locate the pair. The official government inquiry concluded they ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean.
One competing hypothesis suggests that Earhart missed Howland Island and landed on Nikumaroro, roughly 400 miles to the southeast. Previous expeditions to the atoll found artifacts from the 1930s, though none provided conclusive proof of the plane. Some independent experts have voiced skepticism about the lagoon shape, with some suggesting the feature could be vegetation or natural debris.
The 16-person expedition will assemble in Tarawa before embarking on a six-day sea voyage to Nikumaroro. The crew includes Purdue University representatives, archaeologists and divers. Once on site, the team plans to record initial visual imagery before conducting remote surveys with sonar and magnetometers.
The researchers then plan to probe the lagoon floor and use hydraulic dredging equipment to clear sediment covering the target. Team members will spend five to six days examining the site directly to determine whether the object is manmade wreckage.
