Overview

• Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute will depart the Marshall Islands on November 5, 2025, for a five-day mission to inspect the Taraia Object anomaly in Nikumaroro’s lagoon.
• The Purdue Research Foundation provided a $500,000 line of credit to underwrite the first phase of the Taraia Object Expedition.
• Researchers believe the 2015 satellite image shows a metallic anomaly matching the size and composition of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra near four known distress signal origins.
• If the team confirms the anomaly is Earhart’s Electra wreckage, they plan a follow-up excavation in 2026 to recover and return the aircraft remains.
• Ric Gillespie of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery maintains the anomaly could be a washed‐up coconut root ball rather than airplane debris.