A South Australian man experienced a bizarre and alarming incident when he was reportedly hit by a meteorite while driving, an event that has left both experts and the public intrigued.
Dr. Andrew Melville-Smith, a veterinarian from Whyalla, was driving his new Tesla on the Port August Highway, approximately 40 kilometers north of Port Germein. On the quiet evening of October 19, his journey took an unexpected turn when a “really violent explosion” interrupted the calm.
Recounting the ordeal to 9news.com.au, Melville-Smith said, “I was out of it for a little while. I remember coming to and being absolutely covered in glass fragments, while my wife was shouting, ‘the car’s blown up, the car’s blown up’.”
The car’s interior was soon filled with shattered glass and a pungent white smoke that “smelled like the car was on fire.” Remarkably, despite the chaos, the Tesla continued to drive.
Both Melville-Smith and his wife, Jo, were understandably shaken by the incident. Fortunately, they only suffered minor cuts amidst the turmoil.
“It was really scary at the time,” Melville-Smith reflected. “One minute we were fine, the next minute we were in absolute chaos.”
Melville-Smith pulled over and noticed the windscreen had been hit by something.
Whatever it was had left a mysterious crater-like dent and melted part of the glass, which was warm to the touch.
“There is farmland, no industry. It was a calm night. There’s no rain, no lightning,” Melville-Smith said.
“We looked at all the camera footage, and we couldn’t see a darn thing. It’s just black. There’s nothing to see. There’s no flash, nothing. It was so fast wasn’t even captured on the cameras.”
Melville-Smith believes all evidence points to a meteorite collision.
“When you rule everything else out, and impossible is the only thing that is possible. Maybe impossible is the possible,” he said.
“The next day, we took it to a windscreen place and they said they’ve never seen anything like it.”
Melville-Smith contacted the South Australia Museum, which oversees all reports of meteorite crashes, to investigate.
SA Museum Minerals and Meteorites Collection Manager Dr Kieran Meaney was initially sceptical, but now believes it may have been a meteorite strike.
“We get a lot of meteorite inquiries at the museum, and most of the time they turn out to be a rock from Earth that is doing a very good impersonation of a meteorite,” he said.
“So, my initial thought was, nah, there’s no way this is going to be the real deal.
“And then once I looked at all the details and the glass of his windscreen seems to have melted a little bit, and the acrylic layers in the glass have discolouration, almost like they’ve been burnt.
“It was certainly hit by something, and it was something hot, and we don’t have another good explanation for what else it could have been.”
Melville-Smith has been told the chances of a meteorite strike on his moving car were one in trillions.
“They said it does look like a meteorite. If it is a meteorite, this is so rare,” he said.
Tesla and SA Museum experts have inspected the still-intact windscreen today and removed it for examination.
It will take time to analyse the windscreen.
If the results come back positive for a meteorite strike, the museum will organise a field trip to the location to try and find it. 
South Australia has a long history of meteorite findings dating back to 1875 with the discovery of the Yardea meteorite in the Gawler Ranges.
State legislation dictates that all meteorites found are the property of the Crown and must be held by the SA Museum, due to their significant scientific importance.
The museum has more than 150 meteorites from Australia and overseas in its collection.
It recognises all discoveries with a personalised medallion for the finder. 
