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Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

abcnews.go.com

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Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#151

Post by oneoff786 »

akmarinov wrote: post #11

Have aliens invaded and we just don’t know about it, the government holding them off lowkey? Edit: Now China’s shooting them down! https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnovak/2023/02/12/china-says...

People need to understand that if you’re being attacked by a FTL capable alien invader, you are so incredibly f**ed that it just does not matter.

People don’t write popular sci fi novels about realistic alien invasions because they would be so utterly one sided and brief that it simply wouldn’t make a good story.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#152

Post by lazide »

tarsinge wrote: post #139

Do we know why they are shot down? How do we know there is no dangerous material in them (e.g. radioactive)?

It’s over some of the most remote land anywhere in the world, and it would be coming down somewhere anyway.

Even if it was full of plutonium, there probably is no better place for it to come down.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#153

Post by gambiting »

localplume wrote: post #131
georgeg23 wrote: post #6

Balloons could be a clever counter to what the US is doing with Low Earth Orbit satellites recently. SpaceX is launching tons of spy/missile defense satellites over China as part of the Space Development Agency: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Development_Agency China has been complaining to the United Nations about it. https://press.un.org/en/2022/gadis3698.doc.htm More details: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Star…

Surveillance satellites are very different to directly flying this equipment into US airspace, including the fact that this equipment could hold paylods other than ISR. Not to mention this comment implies China does not have equivalent spy satellites, which it does. Also the UN is an absolute joke. That article links has China and Russia complaining about the West being aggressors so honestly its kinda BS. Also forge…

>>Also the UN is an absolute joke

UN is literally just a forum for countries to meet and discuss matters. Nothing more nothing less. I have no idea why people expect UN to take action, when UN is explicitly not an organisation for taking any actions.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#154

Post by SkyPuncher »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #81

All of a sudden balloons everywhere. Were they always there, and people are just now noticing it, or is this something new?

I suspect these have always been here.

In fact, the NOAA launches dozens of weather balloons daily.

Seems like recent attention is causing a bit of an over correction.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#155

Post by throwayyy479087 »

cududa wrote: post #51
bombcar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original ballon was large enough to be noticed and photographed by civilians on the ground.

Isn’t it a little TOO convenient that no civilians were out on Lake Huron in the middle of winter under the objects flight path to take a picture? (/s, if that was necessary to clarify)

To explain to the rest of the class - right now Huron is a wind-whipped, cold, miserable place to be. It’s not surprising Johnny Fisherman isn’t out these days.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#156

Post by SkyPuncher »

Redoubts wrote: post #71
ttul wrote: post #21

This time, an F-16 sufficed.

Shame they can’t just gun them down with a tucano. This all seems like a large waste of money.

Besides the missile, these pilots need hours anyways. Unlikely to be adding significant expense since this can replace hours elsewhere.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#157

Post by runarberg »

mach1ne wrote: post #125
janoc wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drone at 40000 feet? That's higher than most airliners - that would need be one heck of a drone, especially given where they have shot it down and how far it would have had to fly. Much more likely sounding/meteorological balloons - a lot of those are sent up every day, worldwide, with payloads that are roughly cylindrical in shape. And some of them can traverse huge distances, even across oceans, so such "UFO" doesn…

To my understanding the latest object traversed from Montana to Lake Huron in less than 24 hours. Can any such balloon really travel that fast?

NASA’s XL-Calibur travelled over 4,000 km between Sweden and Nunavut in 5-7 days[1]. Montana to Huron is less then half the distance. 24 hours is a bit fast, but not impossible.

https://twitter.com/markp8183/status/1546936037112393728

EDIT: To give a more clear example. It took XL-Calibur a little more then 30 hour to travel from Hudson Bay to Yellowknife. That is not much shorter then some distance between Montana and Huron

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#158

Post by pixl97 »

pueblito wrote: post #41
Ancalagon wrote: post #4

Why are there no photos of any of these except the original Chinese balloon?

Information is being selectively withheld to manipulate public opinion, and legacy media outlets are cooperating because that’s what they exist to do - amplify on demand.

While the government will classify their information thinking the media has it but isn't posting it is really just dumb. If any member of the public had it, it would have spread across Twitter/tictok like wildfire.

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#159

Post by [deleted] »

georgeg23 wrote: post #142
moose_man wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China could do the same thing if they wanted. That isn't a good excuse to violate national airspace. Maybe they want to intercept cell phone data.

And try to compete with Starship? US can always launch more and for these LEO constellations it's all about numbers.

[deleted]

Re: Military shoots down another high-altitude object, over Lake Huron: officials

#160

Post by billiallards »

iancmceachern wrote: post #105
codenesium wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An undersea civilization is exploring the air world.

It's the Dolphins. So long and thanks for all the fish!

They are cylindrical, grey, without apparent means of aerial propulsion, and prone to interfering with ultrasonic sensors...

Most dolphins are smaller than a compact car, but I bet they would break apart upon impact with a frozen sea after dropping out of the sky. This might be the correct answer.

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