Mystery surrounds a rocket engine hauled from the sea by fishermen off the Irish coast earlier this month.

According to Echo Live, the rocket motor was found by fishermen from Union Hall trawling for monkfish some 200 miles south of Dingle.

At first it was believed to be remnant of the failed Virgin Orbit rocket launch in January.

But a spokesperson for Virgin Orbit said it wasn’t from its craft LauncherOne, which crashed into the sea west of Africa, pointing out that “the exhaust valves are totally different”.

The rocket part has been identified as a product of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

However, the California-based defence contractor did not respond to the Irish Examiner’s request for comment as to the rocket’s origin

#Saturn5 - Hollywood hitmaker James Cameron might have the exploration of the Titanic all sewn up, but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has just made a deep-ocean discovery of his own.

Reuters reports that a team funded by the online retail boss has pulled up from the depths two engines from the Saturn 5 rocket that sent Nasa's Apollo missions to the moon.

Bezos announced the historic find on Wednesday, explaining how the team found and recovered the two first-stage engines from the ocean floor some three miles below the surface of the Atlantic.

He wrote on the Bezos Expeditions site: "We've seen an underwater wonderland - an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program."

It's not certain what mission the engines were used for as the serial numbers are incomplete, but it's hopeful that their origin can be narrowed down during restoration ahead of their eventual public display.