Social media was on fire with speculation about a fallen meteorite that allegedly crashed on a school playground in Far North Queensland, with NASA supposedly called in to investigate. But not everything was as it seemed.
A number of anecdotes and theories emerged online, as people rushed to find out more. It did not take long, however, for amateur astronomers to be somewhat discouraged in discovering the true and much more mundane origins of “space rock”.
“We receive all types of inquiries from around the world,” said Malanda State School principal Mark Allen, before giving the real news that the fall of the viral meteorite on his playground was actually a school project.
Allen described the exercise as a “A little bit of fun” where school students were invited to “report” on a meteorite landing as part of a mission that tasked them with interviewing witnesses and emergency services at the scene, with someone allegedly deciding to take the initiative and take the case to NASA.
“The local police loved to get involved with the school and the children to make it more realistic.” explained local resident Daniel Moss. “This is a small town, they didn’t expect [the school project] to go viral. “
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