Shepherds herding their flock in Murcia, southeastern Spain on Tuesday found something unusual lying in a field — was it a UFO? While their first thought was that the object came from military aircraft sighted in the area, it turns out the strange oval object had actually fallen from outer space.
Two brothers, Francisco and Juan Espín del Amo, were tending to their flock of sheep and goats when they came across a strange grey, oval object, lying in the grass. Their first thought was that the mysterious object must have fallen from the sky and they took some video footage of the object, included below.
Note that in the footage it is clear one of the shepherds has touched the “UFO” with his bare hands, which is probably not a good idea when it comes to something of unknown origins. The object weighs between 15 and 20 kilograms, with a diameter of between 60 and 70 centimeters.
As reported by The Local , while it couldn’t technically be called a UFO, as the mysterious oval object wasn’t actually flying at the time, the brothers deduced that it must be related to some military aircraft that had been flying around the area a few days prior to their discovery, but they had no idea what it could actually be. The brothers decided it was a good idea to contact the authorities.
Spain’s Civil Guard got involved in the strange discovery and immediately activated their NRBQ protocol (used to investigate nuclear, radiological, bacterial or chemical threats) and an expert was sent out into the field to investigate the object to establish if it was related to any kind of UFO. Wearing a bright yellow safety suit, the expert ran some tests on and around the object and deemed it to be safe.
Detectivefugaz News is out! https://t.co/GGUUUz2MRW
— Detectivefugaz (@Detectivefugaz) November 6, 2015
Their findings from examining the so-called “UFO” were that the mysterious, grey oval object could possibly be an auxiliary fuel tank from a rocket that somehow managed to find its way back to Earth.
The Civil Guard sent out a tweet Wednesday to reassure residents that the aliens hadn’t landed a UFO in the area. The tweet translated as follows, “The UFO that fell in Murica on Tuesday wasn’t alien or ‘rainproof’, it was only space debris.” The authorities even added a little humor to their tweet with spaceship and alien emojis.
El #UFO 👽 caido el martes en #Murcia no era alienígena ni antilluvia, sólo basura espacial 🚀 https://t.co/j0XushZcyu pic.twitter.com/HV2bD8v641
— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) November 4, 2015
According to the Spanish language El Pais newspaper, this isn’t the first object of this kind that has made its way back to Earth. An explosives expert with the Civil Guard told the newspaper, “A few years ago similar objects were discovered in Brazil and Australia.”
While the Civil Guard experts were running their tests, a scientifically-minded cousin of the two shepherd brothers reportedly did his own investigation on the possible “UFO.” The cousin told the Spanish media that he had extensively researched the subject online and discovered that the object could possibly be a component of a space station.
He explained the oval-shaped object bears all the signs of being a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel (COPV), adding that COPVs are composed of a material so resistant that they can survive re-entry into the atmosphere without burning up. In fact, in the video included above, comparisons are made with existing COPVs and he could quite possibly have the right idea. It also shows images of the similar objects that had been found in Australia and Brazil.
Anyone who became overly excited about the discovery is probably now a little disappointed, but it must have made the two shepherds’ day finding the strange object in their field.
The video below, published by the Civil Guard, shows their expert examining the object in the field, while wearing a bright-yellow safety suit.
[Photo courtesy Guardia Civil Spain]
