Could these be the “UFOs” shot down this weekend? – National & International News – TUE 14Feb2023

Could industrial and civilian balloons account for the “objects” shot down this weekend? A quick Google search yields some intriguing, and potentially embarrassing, possibilities.

NATIONAL NEWS

Could these be the “UFOs” shot down this weekend?

Speculation is running wild about the three high-altitude objects shot down this weekend in Alaska, Canada and over Lake Huron. An unnamed US government source also described the Alaskan object which the US Air Force shot down on Friday as “cylindrical and silverish-grey“. Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand described the object shot down there on Saturday as being “cylindrical“. The third object, which the F-16s needed two missiles to shoot down (the first missed and landed in Lake Huron), was described by an anonymous government source as “octagonal” in shape with strings hanging down.

A large industrial gas storage balloon made by Ballonbau Wörner.

A Google search of “cylindrical balloons” will lead you to several vendors who sell large sausage-shaped balloons used for storage of various gases. These balloons come in a variety of colors (including “silverish-grey”) and are made of a sturdy polyester fabric with a polyurethane or polyvinylchloride (PVC) coating inside and out. The website of one vendor, Ballonbau Wörner in Augsberg, Germany, describes the product:

“Gas storage balloons, also known as gas holder balloons, gas bags or gas recovery membranes, are flexible, inflatable bladders used for industrial purposes. They often serve as an intermediate storage solution for the economical collection or storage of gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium or other inert gases. These flexible containers (tanks) are used, for example, in breweries, technical universities and research institutes, and in special recycling processes.”

Hydrogen, nitrogen, and helium are all lighter-than-air gases, as are neon, ammonia, methane and carbon monoxide. All of these are commonly used in industrial processes.

Ballonbau Wörner’s website also says they make custom balloon shapes. This may possibly include octagons, or even hexagons which would be more space-efficient for storage. The website recommends various methods for securing the balloons:

“In order to stand securely at the installation location, the balloons are suspended in a tubular frame. The tubular frames can optionally be suspended from the ceiling using steel cables or fixed to the floor with supports. Installation is very simple and can easily be performed by any technician.”

Could the steel cables account for the “strings” hanging down from the octagonal object over Lake Huron?

Helium-floated wind turbines over Alaska

An experimental Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT) by Altaeros Energies.

An article from 2014 discusses a project to float a wind turbine over Fairbanks, Alaska. The Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT), developed by Altaeros Energies, consists of a roughly cylindrical balloon (or envelope). The interior is hollow to accommodate the turbine.

In theory, the turbine would float some 300 meters off the ground to harness the greater wind energy at higher altitudes. This would allow for easy installation in areas that have little access to other renewable energy sources and where space was at a premium. As a bonus, the balloon could also carry equipment to boost cell phone service in the area.

Most of the articles referencing this experiment technology date back to 2014 and 2015. I could find no mention of current models or production of BATs on Altaeros’ website. But the 2014 article references other companies experimenting with other types of airborne turbines. 

If these are in use somewhere in the Arctic or the Yukon, did one of them get loose?

Silence from government and loose talk

Just a quick disclaimer, this is only a theory. I’m not a physicist and have no idea if it would even be possible for one of these envelopes to float up to 40,000 feet without losing buoyancy or air pressure. These materials are sturdier than your average party balloon which suggests it might be possible, at least to a layperson like me. 

So far, there haven’t been many answers forthcoming from the White House or the Pentagon either. None of the objects have yet been recovered. Two of them are presumably lying over the frozen wastes of Alaska and the Yukon. The third (along with a missile costing God-knows-what) is at the bottom of Lake Huron.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said yesterday that the intelligence community is considering whether the three objects could be balloons “tied to some commercial or benign purpose”. That may be all we ever hear from the White House or the Pentagon. If, as I’ve suggested here, these are just industrial balloons, the government will have to explain that they scrambled numerous fighter jets and fired at least four missiles (one of which missed!) costing in the millions of dollars to neutralize a few thousand dollars worth of industrial equipment.

Unanswered questions

This leaves us with another key question: how did these balloons get loose? Did someone screw up? Was it a prank following the furor over the Chinese spy balloon?

Maybe some bored workers at some desolate oil rig somewhere in the Arctic thought to themselves, “Hey, we’ve got balloons and we’ve got methane. Let’s have some fun!”. Did they laugh and high-five each other when a missile hit the balloon and an enormous fireball erupted across the night sky? 

Did Nena predict this exact scenario in 1983 in the anti-war anthem “99 Luftbaloons”?

These are all questions we may never know the answers to.

Please share any thoughts, comments or questions in the Comments section below!