A nearly 90 year old mystery may soon be solved. A long-planned Purdue University expedition will set sail next week.
Purdue’s quest to find Amelia Earhart's lost plane started in 2020, when satellite photos discovered the “Taraya Object” which is believed to be the wreckage of the aircraft.
Expedition lead Rick Pettigrew says after a delay last year, the journey is now set.
"There's a lot of evidence, you know, supporting this hypothesis. Knowing what we know, we can't turn our backs on it. We can't. We can't avoid going there,” Pettigrew said.
The journey is far from simple as Pettigrew detailed during a recent media event. Some parts of the expedition require more physical work than others.
“The first thing we have to do is to make our way across to the lagoon. That's not an easy task. We have to cut our way through the forest there. It's basically a jungle,” Pettigrew said.
Purdue alum and technology specialist Siricha Bandla said it’s a privilege to join the expedition.
“To be a part of a team that is attempting to answer one of the most talked-about questions in aviation in history, and to be a part of this incredible crew that's going out there to do this,” Bandla said.
One challenge for the team is to observe the object without causing any damage. It is submerged underwater and covered with silt, which makes it difficult for the diving team to examine it. The group of divers will take precautionary measures to preserve the original state of the aircraft.
Scuba team member Mark Hagel described the process to prevent damage.
“We're going to have to lay out a grid pattern to find everything in an organized manner. We're going to have to uncover it in a very systematic manner so as to not disturb it, and then we're going to have to verify that is indeed what it is,” Hagel said.
Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute lead the expedition to the island nation of Kiribati and will spend less than a week exploring the object.
Contact WFYI news intern Kahmara Munn at kmunn@wfyi.org