What's up with all these UFOs all of a sudden
- Thread starter SecondAttempt
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JoeWras
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Some of this is lighthearted and funny, taken in the context of innocent UFOs based on real life objects like standard weather balloons.
But some of it is not so funny. I'll leave it at that.
But some of it is not so funny. I'll leave it at that.
EastWest Gal
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Who could forget "Lawn Chair Larry"?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/flying-lawn-chair-180972974/
HawkOwl
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Not mutually exclusive. My paranoid/harebrained theory is that someone is testing a balloon drone delivery system for biological warfare. Smallpox, anybody? Not an actual attack, yet, just testing our ability to detect and respond. Even the possibility of that might explain the military’s reluctance to shoot them down over land.
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Irishgirlyc58
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SecondAttempt
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Where have you seen evidence of intelligent life on earth?
SecondAttempt
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I considered this and other possible commercial missions. I would think the owner would have contacted the government and informed that they were theirs by now. I really think if these were legitimate commercial or scientific missions we would know by now even if they were done without the proper permits.
At this point I don't think they are related to spying and I'm stuck on illicit drug delivery. Testing a biological warfare delivery system is not too far fetched to me either.
HawkOwl
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‘The Demon in the Freezer” had an influence on me. What a game changer it would be if China knew that it could get in undetected and spray an infective agent on multiple US military bases, say, a week before launching an invasion on Taiwan. It wouldn’t have to kill everybody, just incapacitate enough of our military personnel. This could be just a dry run to see if balloon drones were a viable delivery method.
I suggested smallpox because that was the subject of The Demon in the Freezer, an unlikely choice for China, since smallpox only exists in two locations (Atlanta and Moscow), and even Putin is unlikely to give it away to China. Maybe the drones were launched from Russia and has nothing to do with Taiwan, or maybe it is some other virus engineered as a weapon. It makes me hope that it is drug smugglers.
It is a long shot, but as long as we are telling each other scary ghost stories, that will be my crazy contribution.
I suggested smallpox because that was the subject of The Demon in the Freezer, an unlikely choice for China, since smallpox only exists in two locations (Atlanta and Moscow), and even Putin is unlikely to give it away to China. Maybe the drones were launched from Russia and has nothing to do with Taiwan, or maybe it is some other virus engineered as a weapon. It makes me hope that it is drug smugglers.
It is a long shot, but as long as we are telling each other scary ghost stories, that will be my crazy contribution.
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Irishgirlyc58
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SecondAttempt
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Lol, you got me there!
aja8888
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Irishgirlyc58
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^^^^one of my favorites [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
Montecfo
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This sudden flurry of activity either means someone had been asleep at the switch for a long time, or they want to sell the idea that all these objects just entered our airspace for the first time, so they acted.
I do not find either idea comforting.
And why do I suspect these unattributed objects could be ours?
I do not find either idea comforting.
And why do I suspect these unattributed objects could be ours?
SecondAttempt
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I think NORAD has admitted/confirmed that they have been asleep at the switch in the sence they have ignored slow moving bogeys at certain altitudes. This could certainly be criticized.
Effectively, this is correct.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-chinas-balloon-sent-us-hunt-flying-objects-2023-02-13/
Highlighted in this article are some of the challenges and changes that NORAD has addressed in the last week or so. There is a very technical explanation, but the short story is that traditional radars (the majority of what NORAD uses) are not designed to track very small, very slow-moving objects. It's possible, but optimizing for those targets creates alot of problems as well, including a high volume of radar clutter & false targets. Even localized weather anomalies like small pockets of high-pressure, high-speed air can appear to be a valid target if the radar is tuned too sensitively. That's why radar operators typically filter out these low-speed radar returns, and why until now these small objects have gone undetected.
The Chinese balloon was enormous -- 200+ feet across plus a large sensor platform... Larger than most hot air balloons. These are more readily detected. But in seeking to find what else may be out there, they opened up the aperture to detect objects less than a quarter that size.
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Throw in a smallpox release and you've got the start of a TV series. Think PD James' "Children of Men" crossed with William Fortschen's "One Second After". Finally, a show where it's good to be old and have antiquated knowledge.
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Music Lover
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As has already been suggested, the extra attention paid to this distracts people from other far more serious issues.
And it's working exactly as intended.
Qs Laptop
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The thing that bugs me is the USAF is shooting down things they tell us they haven't identified. I certainly hope this is not the case.
I'm quite sure they have at least been identified as "not ours".
Midpack
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And it's not like lots of countries don't spy on each other every day. Have we given other countries the right to shoot down anything we have in the air, including LEO satellites?
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We will complain to the Chinese about flying their balloons over our airspace. They will "take it under advisement" and do nothing. We will do nothing else. China will complain to us about shooting down their balloon. We will "take it under advisement" and do nothing. They will do nothing else.
If you must, there are plenty of other things genuinely to worry about.
If you must, there are plenty of other things genuinely to worry about.
Lewis Clark
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Not sure how large the payloads are that those balloons are carrying.
Here in the US, the instrument package carried aloft by a weather balloon is about the size of a large box of tissues.
AZflowers
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I watched the news conference yesterday with the John Kirby from the NSC. He could not convincingly answer why the US now shoots down unidentified flying objects. His answer was that they are a danger to aircraft. Well, it seems to me there have been hundreds (thousands?) of smaller objects flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet over the years that they've never identified and they've never shot them down for "safe air travel".
