Will a popular Amelia Earhart theory be proved? 'Something is there.'

An expedition aimed at confirming Amelia Earhart’s fate is scheduled for this fall on Nikumaroro, a remote Pacific island between Australia and Hawaii. The team will focus on the “Taraia object,” a visual anomaly identified in satellite imagery in 2020 at the edge of the island’s lagoon. The mission is a joint effort between the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute, delayed from October 2025 due to weather and clearance from the government of Kiribati. With new cabinet approvals, 16 researchers will travel by sea in October to determine whether the object is Earhart’s long-lost plane. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, during their final leg toward Howland Island, after receiving warnings about fuel.