The US Airforce may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada
There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by US Airforce jets may have been an amateur radio pico balloon. Amateur radio pico balloon K9YO was launched from Illinois in October 10 2022 and has circumnavigated the globe seven times. The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one. It's unknown how large these balloons expand in the low pressure of high altitudes. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
K9YO-15 was projected to have been over Yukon on Saturday Feb 11 when the US Airforce shot down the unknown balloon object at Feb 11 20:41 UTC (3:41 PM EST according to Canadian Defense Minister Anand). Since Feb 11 00:18 UTC the balloon has ceased all WSPR telemetry transmissions and has recently been declared as missing in action by the launch group. Reports put the altitude of the shot down object at approximately 40,000ft (~12000 meters), which matches the projected ~11500 meters of K9YO.
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There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by US Airforce jets may have been an amateur radio pico balloon. Amateur radio pico balloon K9YO was launched from Illinois in October 10 2022 and has circumnavigated the globe seven times. The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one. It's unknown how large these balloons expand in the low pressure of high altitudes. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
K9YO-15 was projected to have been over Yukon on Saturday Feb 11 when the US Airforce shot down the unknown balloon object at Feb 11 20:41 UTC (3:41 PM EST according to Canadian Defense Minister Anand). Since Feb 11 00:18 UTC the balloon has ceased all WSPR telemetry transmissions and has recently been declared as missing in action by the launch group. Reports put the altitude of the shot down object at approximately 40,000ft (~12000 meters), which matches the projected ~11500 meters of K9YO.
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