Surprise!

[JasonPratt]

Relatedly, Newsweek interviews Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University in the U.K. : https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/weird-octagonal-shape-of-lake-huron-ufo-explained-by-experts/ar-AA17tWmK?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=33782b16a04e4c3fa83c4ea9c0a426cc

"{An octogon} is quite a sensible shape to make a large gas balloon, as it's structurally efficient, keeping the amount of material needed relatively low, and it's not hard to, say, rotate such a craft for any number of reasons of control or payload alignment."

"It's also the shape a lot of camera equipment using mechanical aperture mechanisms will tend to show small distant objects. So if a camera using mechanical shuttering is seeing something very distant, it might look to be such a shape—when it actually isn't (although clearly it's still seeing something)."

The octagonal structure may also provide streamlining to the object as it travels through the air.

"There are studies of octagonal shaped buildings that seem to have good aerodynamics in terms of wind resistance," Janet Bednarek, an aviation historian at the University of Dayton, Ohio, told Newsweek.

On the other hand, it also may be as a result of deliberate design to capture the imaginations of UFO spotters.

[JasonPratt]

More details from the AP on Kirby's statements about the other balloons being probably benign, plus whether the Chinese balloon had really been intended to traverse North America: https://apnews.com/article/aerial-objects-shot-down-lake-huron-8d60c429b1bf549a791434f8bd1bcc81

Now, personally, I don't believe the North American location is innocent for the first balloon, because even if they meant to send it to Guam and freak weather conditions spun it waaaay off course, the Chinese government made a decision not to sink it unobtrusively in deep Pacific water long before approaching Alaska (and long after it was clearly never going to Guam or wherever): they could control its altitude at the very least, including 0 feet above sea level!

They took the opportunity handed to them, for whatever reasons, and continued to operate the thing.

However, I can understand the realpolitik of spinning things this way to defuse (a few) tensions with China.

[JasonPratt]

The Week passes along a WaPo report (from behind a WaPo paywall) on why missiles were used instead of guns for downing the crafts:

https://theweek.com/us-military/1021008/why-the-us-used-missiles-not-cheap-bullets-to-shoot-down-chinese-balloon-3

My first reaction was that it's silly to think that 20mm cannons would cause 'small' holes in balloons, and that low-pressure atmosphere at high altitudes would hamper almost the lightest elemental gas, helium, from escaping the holes. But apparently, the Canadian, British, and US military discovered exactly this back in 1998! (With an incursion over Russian territory, briefly, being an unintended result of their repeated failures.)

[Gusington]

Sir Slash: Sky Trash and the World of Tomorrow?

[JasonPratt]

^^ Could literally be the explanation for a lot of weirdness in recent years! 

[Sir Slash]

Indeed. Weirdness has become so commonplace today that I'm almost ashamed to call myself that anymore. They're taking the damn fun out of it. 

[Gusington]

Yeah that weird train left the station and derailed a long time ago.

[JasonPratt]

^ Ha, well-played on the crossthread!

[Gusington]

 

[Tripoli]

According to CBS, the US was tracking the balloon since it lifted off from China. 



BREAKING: CBS News has learned that U.S. intelligence watched the Chinese spy balloon as it lifted off near China's south coast, meaning the U.S. military had been tracking it for nearly a week before it entered U.S. airspace.  https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1625654399203786752

[Sir Slash]

So how is it we were tracking it over the Pacific but only now by changing our radar parameters are able to track it/them over North America? Sombody's got some 'splaining to do. My money's on Wakanda.

[JasonPratt]

Ever since they changed their technology to open their force field by jamming on some drums, the world has gone downhill. sigh.

[Sir Slash]

Right. And now they've got Namor pissed at them.    I bet they wish they could go back and hide again.

[Pete Dero]

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ufo-shot-down-by-us-jet-may-have-been-dollar12-balloon-says-report

A silver-coated hobby balloon declared "missing in action" is being considered as one of the mysterious, unidentified objects shot down by the U.S. military last week.

The party-style, "pico balloon" that can cost as low as $12 was launched in October last year and was being tracked by the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) until it abruptly ceased communications, the NIBBB told Aviation Week Thursday.
A day before its disappearance, the balloon reported its last position off the west coast of Alaska. By Feb. 11, it was floating in the vicinity of the Yukon Territory, the same area where the U.S. used a $400,000 missile to shoot down an object containing a similar description.

"I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they're going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down," Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), told Aviation Week. A number of government agencies, including the FBI, did not respond to Aviation Week's request for comment.

The balloon, dubbed K9YO, was launched Oct. 10, 2022, and spent 123 days and 18 hours in flight, according to NIBBB. The balloons can cost from $12-180 each depending on the style.

[Windigo]

Right. And now they've got Namor pissed at them.    I bet they wish they could go back and hide again.

Just don't piss off the Silver Surfer.