In 1937, Amelia Earhart disappeared during her around-the-world flight. A new mission now aims to solve the 90-year-old mystery

In 1937, American aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared during her attempt to fly around the world. Nearly 90 years later, a new expedition is preparing to explore a remote Pacific island in the hope of solving one of aviation's greatest mysteries.

Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while flying with navigator Fred Noonan from Lae, Papua New Guinea, to Howland Island. Although the most widely accepted theory is that the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific, another long-running theory suggests Earhart and Noonan may have landed on the remote island of Nikumaroro and survived there for some time.

Now, researchers are preparing to return to Nikumaroro to investigate a mysterious object spotted in satellite imagery. The team hopes the object could be the remains of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E.


According to USA TODAY, the expedition is scheduled for October and will bring a 16-member team to the island. The mission is a joint effort between the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute.

At the centre of the investigation is what researchers call the "Taraia object", an unidentified anomaly near the edge of Nikumaroro's lagoon.

What will the new Amelia Earhart expedition do?

The expedition was originally scheduled for October 2025 but was delayed by a year because of weather conditions and the need to obtain approval from the government of Kiribati, which governs Nikumaroro.

New approvals have now been secured from the Kiribati cabinet, allowing the researchers to travel to the island in October.

According to USA TODAY, the team will spend several days travelling by sea to Nikumaroro before heading to the lagoon where the Taraia object was identified.

Researchers plan to use a hydraulic dredge to carefully remove sediment around the object. Their main goal is to determine whether it is part of Earhart's missing aircraft.

The team will look for large sections of the aircraft, including the fuselage and wings. Researchers will also search for metal rivets that could help establish whether the wreckage belongs to the Electra.

What happened to Amelia Earhart?

Earhart and Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying from Lae, Papua New Guinea, to Howland Island.

The pair were nearing the final stages of Earhart's attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Their journey had begun on May 21, 1937, in Oakland, California.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was stationed near Howland Island to assist with navigation and refuelling. Earhart sent radio messages indicating that the aircraft was running critically low on fuel.

According to an analysis of government records by the Smithsonian Institution, there was no two-way communication because neither Earhart nor Noonan knew Morse code.

A major search operation followed the disappearance. After two weeks, the U.S. government ended the search without finding Earhart, Noonan or their aircraft.

Earhart and Noonan were legally declared dead on January 5, 1939.

Why are researchers searching Nikumaroro?

The most widely accepted explanation is that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific near Howland Island.

However, the Nikumaroro theory has attracted researchers for decades. It suggests that Earhart and Noonan failed to find Howland Island, landed on Nikumaroro and eventually died there.

Several pieces of evidence have been cited in support of the theory.

Pettigrew has said the mysterious object in the lagoon first became visible in satellite imagery in April 2015. Researchers believe it resembles an anomaly seen in photographs taken in the months and years after Earhart's disappearance.

Other evidence cited by researchers includes radio bearings that appear to converge on Nikumaroro. Human bones found on the island have also been examined for similarities to Earhart's physical characteristics.

Artifacts including a woman's shoe, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial have also been reported on the island. According to the Purdue Research Foundation, the items date to the 1930s.

However, the evidence has not established that Earhart and Noonan reached Nikumaroro.

How did the Amelia Earhart disappearance mystery begin?

On July 2, 1937, Earhart and Noonan were flying toward Howland Island as part of their ambitious attempt to circumnavigate the Earth. They had already completed much of the journey, but the remaining Pacific leg presented major navigational and logistical challenges.

Radio transmissions indicated that the aircraft was running dangerously low on fuel as it approached Howland Island. After a series of communications with the Itasca, contact was lost.

No confirmed trace of Earhart, Noonan or their aircraft was found during the subsequent search.

Their disappearance quickly became an international mystery. Over the decades, researchers have searched remote islands and vast areas of the Pacific Ocean, while numerous theories have emerged about what happened to the aviator and her navigator.

Some theories have suggested that Earhart was captured by the Japanese, while others have proposed that she was involved in a secret mission or survived under a different identity. None of these theories has been conclusively established.

Could the mysterious object finally solve the mystery?

The latest expedition is focused on a much more specific question: What is the Taraia object?

If researchers can establish that it is part of the Electra, it could provide the strongest physical evidence yet for the Nikumaroro theory.

If the aircraft is found, the team plans to return the following year for a full-scale excavation and possible recovery operation.

Pettigrew said the mission will be worthwhile even if the object turns out not to be Earhart's aircraft.

“Something is there, and it’s either the Electra or it’s not,” Pettigrew said. “Somebody has to make that determination – and that’s going to be us.”

After nearly nine decades, the search for answers about what happened to Amelia Earhart is still far from over.