Washington: The balloon found flying over Southeast Alaska on February 11 is suspected to belong to an American hobby group. The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade said it lost contact with its Pico balloon a day following authorities shot it down.
A pico balloon is a small balloon equipped with trackers that can measure temperature, humidity, pressure or wind currents. It is believed to be one of the three balloons shot down by the military.
According to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, it is the balloon that has circled the world six times. The last launch of the balloon was near Hagemeister Island in the southwest corner of Alaska.
The firm said on its website that it is not unusual for there to be significant gaps between transmissions. In the past there have been broadcasts from the balloon at intervals of up to 30 days. This happens due to variation in sunlight availability especially for solar panels.
The group, founded in 2021 with 10 members, is sending small transmitters with GPS tracking and antennas in hydrogen-filled balloons up to 47,000 feet. And two balloons travel around the world.
At the same time, the group stated that they have not yet received any factual evidence that the balloon brought down by the authorities is theirs.
No part of the object shot down by the US Air Force jet that flew over the Yukon Territory was recovered. They explain that they cannot claim that the object is theirs until they find it and confirm that it is an identifiable pico balloon.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says no one has come forward to claim ownership of the balloon and that he is not aware of any formal proceedings initiated on behalf of the Illinois group.
Meanwhile, the search for two of the three other objects that were shot down has been called off, the US military’s Northern Command said in a statement.
The statement explained that the search near Deadhorse and Lake Huron, Alaska, was terminated today following searching for no remains of objects shot on February 10 and 12, 2023.
At the same time, the US military announced that it had found sensors and other things collected in South Carolina from a Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by a US fighter jet on February 4.
The final remains from the Chinese balloon will be taken to an FBI laboratory in Virginia for further analysis. The U.S. military’s Northern Command announced that air and maritime security restrictions had been raised following the incident.
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