Researchers from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University will launch an expedition on October 7 to investigate a submerged anomaly in the Nikumaroro lagoon, testing satellite imagery that could reveal Amelia Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra.
Nearly nine decades after American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the South Pacific during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe at the equator, a 17-person team is preparing to search for the aircraft’s remains. The mission centers on an unusual underwater feature in the remote island nation of Kiribati known as the Taraia Object.
Expedition Launch to Nikumaroro Lagoon
The expedition will depart by sea for Nikumaroro in the Phoenix Islands. Dr. Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, leads the 17-person crew on the upcoming voyage.
The journey requires sailing six days across the Pacific to reach the small island, which lies halfway between Australia and Hawaii and roughly 400 miles southeast of Howland Island. Researchers plan to spend nearly three weeks conducting underwater surveying and archaeological fieldwork before returning to Tarawa around October 22 and flying home the following day.
The search was originally announced in July 2025 on the 88th anniversary of Earhart and Noonan’s disappearance.
Origins of the Taraia Object in Satellite Imagery
The target of the search first gained attention in 2020 when researcher Michael Ashmore spotted an unusual shape while examining Apple Maps imagery of the Nikumaroro lagoon. Subsequent archival checks revealed that the anomaly was already visible in older satellite pictures captured in 2015 years before it was brought to light.
Researchers theorize that Tropical Cyclone Pam, which hit the region in March 2015, may have shifted lagoon sediment to expose a previously buried object. The feature’s elongated shape, reflective surface, and apparent size share visual characteristics with aircraft parts such as a fuselage and tail according to investigators who have examined additional drone and aerial footage.
Despite the suggestive imagery, experts acknowledge that satellite data cannot definitively identify the feature or confirm whether it belonged to Earhart’s Lockheed Model 10E Electra rather than a natural formation.
Purdue University Ties and Historical Evidence
Earhart’s connection to Purdue University runs deep. In 1935, she joined the institution as a women’s career counselor and advisor to the aeronautics department, operating the Flying Laboratory
that was originally funded by the Purdue Research Foundation through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research.
The university and the Archaeological Legacy Institute are co-funding the current expedition alongside regional coordination with Kiribati leadership.
In 2025, President Donald Trump directed the FBI to declassify and make public all government files concerning Earhart and her final journey, further fueling public fascination with the enduring mystery.
Alongside its academic and educational contributions, the Purdue Research Foundation oversees Purdue Innovates—which encompasses Ventures, the Incubator, and the Office of Technology Commercialization—while additionally managing the Purdue for Life Foundation, Discovery Park District at Purdue, Purdue Technology Centers, and Purdue Research Park.
The storytelling around the effort also features prominently on campus through university media. This Is Purdue,
the university’s official podcast, released a four-part miniseries called Finding Amelia,
which explores the decades-long connection between the legendary aviator and Purdue, her time operating the Flying Laboratory, and the Amelia Earhart Collection housed within Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.
If the team confirms the structure is the Electra during the upcoming fieldwork, organizers intend to seek further permissions from Kiribati to conduct a full-scale archaeological excavation during a subsequent visit and potentially return the aircraft to West Lafayette.
