US fighter jets may have downed $12 pico balloons and not UFO: Report
The pico balloons contain trackers, solar panels and antenna packages lighter than a small bird. The US military might have downed one of these balloons using missiles last week.
India Today Web Desk
New Delhi,
Feb 18, 2023
A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon recently shot down an object which was flying over Ontario.
A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon recently shot down an object which was flying over Ontario.
(File photo/AFP)
By India Today Web Desk: The mystery surrounding one of the unidentified objects brought down by the US military last week appears to have been solved by a group of amateur balloon enthusiasts in Illinois.
Balloon hobbyists from Illinois said one of its "hobby craft" went “missing in action” over Alaska on February 11, the same day a US fighter jet downed an unidentified airborne object, The Guardian reported.
The US military has shot down three objects after bringing down a suspected spy balloon from China.
If that is what happened, it would mean the US military fired a missile costing $439,000 to bring down an innocuous, tiny GPS-tracked hobby balloon worth about $12, the report said.
Amateur pico balloonists - please, please delay launching your floating balloons for a while, maybe a month. It looks like some of the things the US Air Force shot down may have been amateur pico balloons. Let's not add to the tensions that the existing picos may yet make. — Balloon Science by Dan (@BalloonSciDan) February 14, 2023
READ | Unidentified objects shot down: Senior US general does not rule out 'aliens'
The pico balloons contain trackers, solar panels and antenna packages lighter than a small bird, and the balloons are filled using less than a cubic foot of gas.
According to Aviation Week, they are small hobby balloons starting at about $12 that allow enthusiasts to combine their interests in high-altitude ballooning.
Scientific Balloon Solutions founder Ron Meadows, whose Silicon Valley company makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists, told the publication that he attempted to alert authorities but was knocked back.
By India Today Web Desk: The mystery surrounding one of the unidentified objects brought down by the US military last week appears to have been solved by a group of amateur balloon enthusiasts in Illinois.
Balloon hobbyists from Illinois said one of its "hobby craft" went “missing in action” over Alaska on February 11, the same day a US fighter jet downed an unidentified airborne object, The Guardian reported.
The US military has shot down three objects after bringing down a suspected spy balloon from China.
If that is what happened, it would mean the US military fired a missile costing $439,000 to bring down an innocuous, tiny GPS-tracked hobby balloon worth about $12, the report said.
Amateur pico balloonists - please, please delay launching your floating balloons for a while, maybe a month. It looks like some of the things the US Air Force shot down may have been amateur pico balloons. Let's not add to the tensions that the existing picos may yet make. — Balloon Science by Dan (@BalloonSciDan) February 14, 2023
READ | Unidentified objects shot down: Senior US general does not rule out 'aliens'
The pico balloons contain trackers, solar panels and antenna packages lighter than a small bird, and the balloons are filled using less than a cubic foot of gas.
According to Aviation Week, they are small hobby balloons starting at about $12 that allow enthusiasts to combine their interests in high-altitude ballooning.
Scientific Balloon Solutions founder Ron Meadows, whose Silicon Valley company makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists, told the publication that he attempted to alert authorities but was knocked back.
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