Probably not. After the October 2026 expedition reached the lagoon on the Taraia Peninsula of Nikumaroro, Kiribati, Purdue University, which has a leading role in the study, said the shiny Taraia Object first spotted on satellite imagery in 2020 “was likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula’s sandspit.” By the time the team arrived, much of the debris had broken up and washed away, leaving a single Y-shaped segment.
The team spent four days onshore after rough seas delayed the search. Project director Rick Pettigrew said the 90-year mystery “continues.” Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished in 1937 while trying to reach Howland Island, about 400 miles (644 km) from Nikumaroro, and one theory holds that they landed on Nikumaroro instead.
Image: Amelia Earhart standing under the nose of her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Underwood & Underwood, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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