Scientists at the South Australian (SA) Museum are investigating a possible meteorite impact on a moving vehicle.<\/p>\n
The incident took place along the Augusta Highway, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Port Germein. Whyalla veterinarian Andrew Melville-Smith and his wife, Jo, were driving north of Port Germein, South Australia, late on October 19, when a loud bang and sudden impact struck their brand-new Tesla Model Y.<\/p>\n
The vehicle was operating in Full Self-Driving (FSD) assist mode, which, according to Andrew, saved their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was out of it,\u201d he said of the moments after the impact. \u201cIt was extremely violent, and we were blasted by high-speed glass shards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we\u2019d crashed. The cabin was full of smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wiped the glass away and saw the car was still driving. If I had been driving, we would have gone off the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew drove the vehicle home to Whyalla and notified the South Australian Museum of the possible meteorite strike after ruling out other possibilities.<\/p>\n While it is likely that the object wasn\u2019t extraterrestrial, what makes this case interesting is that the glass around the impact area appears to have melted slightly. The acrylic layers of the windscreen also show signs of discoloration, as if they had been burned.<\/p>\n The SA Museum\u2019s assistant collection manager of mineralogy, Kieran Meaney, said that if the object proved to be a meteorite, it would be the first recorded case of one hitting a moving vehicle.<\/p>\n Dr. Meaney was initially sceptical because the odds of a meteorite striking a moving vehicle are immeasurably low.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get a lot of meteorite inquiries at the Museum, and most of the time they turn out to be rocks from Earth doing a very good impersonation of a meteorite,\u201d Dr. Meaney said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo my initial thought was, nah, there\u2019s no way this is going to be the real deal.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then, once I looked at all the details \u2014 the glass of his windscreen seemed to have melted a little bit, and the acrylic layers in the glass had discolouration, almost like they\u2019d been burnt.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was certainly hit by something, and it was something hot \u2014 and we don\u2019t have another good explanation for what else it could have been.\u201d<\/p>\n Windscreen glass melts at around 1 400\u00b0C to 1 600\u00b0C (2 550\u00b0F to 2 900\u00b0F). The object that struck must have been extremely hot; an average rock would need to be travelling faster than the speed of sound to reach those temperatures.<\/p>\n What remains unclear is that if it were indeed a meteorite; there should have been multiple bright fireball sightings in the region. However, no such reports were received.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo, three, or four minutes before this rock hit the car, there should have been, widely observed across that region, a fireball in the sky \u2014 at least as bright as a full moon, if not significantly brighter,\u201d said Jonti Horner, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland.<\/p>\n He added that, contrary to what is portrayed in Hollywood films, meteorites are typically cold to the touch by the time they reach Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason is these things have been held at the cold, cold temperatures of deep space for billions of years, and they\u2019ve had only a fleeting few seconds of being heated up as they pass through the atmosphere,\u201d Horner explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means they have a very thin layer of heat on the outside and a lot of cold on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Horner said the case was a \u201cchallenging\u201d one to piece together and that other potential explanations should not be ruled out.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it\u2019s something that\u2019s fallen off an aircraft flying overhead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cNot saying it isn\u2019t a meteorite\u2013I\u2019m just saying there\u2019s good cause to be sceptical when it could just be a rock from another source.\u201d<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n 1<\/sup> Possible meteorite strike investigated by Museum scientists \u2013 SA Museum \u2013 October 30, 2025<\/p>\n 2<\/sup> Meteorite Miracle: Tesla Model Y\u2019s FSD saves occupants from a crash in South Australia \u2013 Whylalla Vet \u2013 October 26, 2025<\/p>\n![\"Impact](\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/crater-left-behind-by-potential-meteor-impact-on-a-moving-car-in-Australia-1024x576.webp\")
![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/View-of-the-crater-formed-by-the-suspected-meteor-crash-on-a-tesla-in-Australia-1024x767.webp\")
![\"crater](\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/crater-left-behind-on-the-windscreen-of-a-Tesla-model-y-by-a-potential-meteor-impact-on-October-19-2025-1024x739.webp\")