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A man was struck by a suspected meteorite while driving on a remote highway in South Australia, leaving experts baffled and excited. Whyalla vet Dr Andrew Melville-Smith was driving home in his brand new Tesla on the Port August Highway, about 40 kilometres north of Port Germein, on the quiet night of October 19, when he heard a "really violent explosion". "I was out of it for a little while. I can remember coming to, and I was absolutely covered in glass fragments, and my wife's going, 'the car's blown up, the car's blown up'," he told 9news.com.au. READ MORE: Rapper's viral slang kids can't stop using becomes Word of the Year "I thought we crashed." Shattered glass fragments and acrid white smoke that "smelled like the car was on fire" filled the Tesla, but the car kept driving. Melville-Smith and his wife, Jo, were startled and received minor cuts, but otherwise okay. "It was really scary at the time. One minute we were fine, the next minute we were in absolute chaos," he said. Melville-Smith pulled over and noticed the windscreen had been hit by something. READ MORE: Mystery surrounds Darwin mum's 'bucket list' holiday death in Thailand 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." READ MORE: Virginia Giuffre's family celebrates as Andrew loses 'prince' title 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. READ MORE: Sports club closes fields after woman killed by lightning 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. READ MORE: Cheers as state legislates historic treaty with First Nations people 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. READ MORE: Fraudster cops 14 years' jail for Ponzi rip-off 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. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
