I like how the measurement unit seems to be either small cars or school busses.
"The US announced today that it destroyed a balloon the size of a traditional Islamic wedding feast."
US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
361–370 of 864 posts
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#362My first thought was maybe it was something like an unmanned survey drone owned by an oil company or some resident's experimental aircraft. But... The Air Force chases off manned Russian aircraft with some regularity. Maybe Russia decided to go unmanned to see how far they could push into our airspace instead of flying something like a Tupolev Tu-95 like they normally do.
A Tu-95 Bear coming anywhere close to a U.S. ADIZ is very likely to get an introduction to Mr. Sidewinder or Mr. AMRAAM, considering their primary role is to deliver nuclear ordnance.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#363Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but some friends and I launched weather balloons with a payload (aprs broadcasting location) twice. Tons of fun, and there is a bunch of software out there you can use to estimate the crash location. On the first balloon we failed to acquire enough helium, and ended up "floating" the balloon in the upper atmosphere overnight. Our prediction system kept indicating it was going to land i…
I wonder if hydrogen would be a better choice. It's an application where the device is unlikely to endanger anybody if it catches on fire.
hindenburg disaster comes to mind
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#364Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#365Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but some friends and I launched weather balloons with a payload (aprs broadcasting location) twice. Tons of fun, and there is a bunch of software out there you can use to estimate the crash location. On the first balloon we failed to acquire enough helium, and ended up "floating" the balloon in the upper atmosphere overnight. Our prediction system kept indicating it was going to land i…
I wonder if hydrogen would be a better choice. It's an application where the device is unlikely to endanger anybody if it catches on fire.
If you mix hydrogen and helium, say 50/50, the risk of any fire is minimal. I wouldn't smoke around it, but I wouldn't be afraid of it causing a fire in a crash. Looking at the recent shoot down, the brief white cloud suggests to me that they might have been using such a mix.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#366Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#367Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but some friends and I launched weather balloons with a payload (aprs broadcasting location) twice. Tons of fun, and there is a bunch of software out there you can use to estimate the crash location. On the first balloon we failed to acquire enough helium, and ended up "floating" the balloon in the upper atmosphere overnight. Our prediction system kept indicating it was going to land i…
I wonder if hydrogen would be a better choice. It's an application where the device is unlikely to endanger anybody if it catches on fire.
We seriously considered it, but were most worried about issues while we were transporting it to the launch site.
And amusingly we ran into the helium issue because our initial vendor didn't have any available, forcing us to buy a bunch of smaller, lower pressure containers from a party store. We miscalculated, assuming there wouldn't be anything left when the pressure equalized..
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#368I’m releasing a high altitude balloon soon for a prize competition. Whoever guesses the closest landing zone of the balloon wins a new cybertruck. Just a silly promotion for my startup. I really hope my balloon gets shot down by a US jet, the free pr would be great for us. Unlikely my balloon will cross the pond though.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but some friends and I launched weather balloons with a payload (aprs broadcasting location) twice. Tons of fun, and there is a bunch of software out there you can use to estimate the crash location. On the first balloon we failed to acquire enough helium, and ended up "floating" the balloon in the upper atmosphere overnight. Our prediction system kept indicating it was going to land i…
Yep, 100% serious. Sounds like a blast. You can actually further protect the balloon with uv repellent paint to stop it popping as easily.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#369There was a fun theory on UFOs I saw recently. The general premise is this: U.S. adversaries realized they couldn't compete with the U.S. on spending. So they got creative and loaded the equivalent of Pringles cans up with a bunch of sensors, hooked them up to either a balloons or relatively cheap unmanned aircraft, and sent them through U.S. airspace to collect intelligence. They'd occasionally get caught (perhaps o…
They need to stop doing this. If they send out thousands of cheap balloons it would be like a denial of service attack!! We don’t have the bandwidth to basically dog fight thousands of aircraft simultaneously!! We’ll go bankrupt!
> We don’t have the bandwidth to basically dog fight thousands of aircraft simultaneously!! We’ll go bankrupt
The defense industry will go ritch, though
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#370Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but some friends and I launched weather balloons with a payload (aprs broadcasting location) twice. Tons of fun, and there is a bunch of software out there you can use to estimate the crash location. On the first balloon we failed to acquire enough helium, and ended up "floating" the balloon in the upper atmosphere overnight. Our prediction system kept indicating it was going to land i…
I wonder if hydrogen would be a better choice. It's an application where the device is unlikely to endanger anybody if it catches on fire.
Likely not if you need long flight times, since it leaks out far quicker iirc.