For my two-newbie-cents, the more we understand this well documented video, the more we can rule it out and move on to other "observations". I'm sure we'll see other similar phenomena and what we collectively discuss and debate here today will certainly pay off in future sightings.

It's true I'm enjoying the discussion and maybe I'm even biased to think that we're not alone, but that doesn't preclude me from demonstrating a modicum of critical thinking.

As I stated, I think it is a balloon, but I'm not about to rule out other possibilities just because someone says it is.

You can take the above as my own hot air and in the meantime, I'll continue to watch the Santa Monica skies.

I think it's one of these things that got free, along with something reflective it was tied to.

It looks NOTHING like that

I VOTE FOR waiting until we get the raw data and let the EXPERTS break it down and tell us what it is.

Now there's a concept, let's LOOK AT THE DATA and let it stand or fall based on FACT instead of speculation.

edit to add: I'll have the disc Wednesday, I got a U2U from Jagman stating he is burning the disc right now and will FedEx it tomorrow.

Springer...

[edit on 3-12-2007 by Springer]

so hopefully by this weekend, we will have some idea of what we are looking at.

ON a related note, should places be forced to record when the release these ballons, not to mention that i dont think that they should have them let go at all, horrible for the enviroment.


Also, if this was a strand of ballons, it should have landed bby now mabye, or at least made it half way across the country by now,

LOOK TO THE SKY LOOK TO THE GROUND, 100 FOOT FLYING BALLON SNAKE ON THE LOOSE

Bhadhidar pointed it out and at the moment im convinced that its a JP Aerospace "Ascender" with a broken truss.The Air Force calls it the “Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle” (NSMV) Length of each arm: 175 feet Height: 42 feet.

The truss itself is 100ft long and holds the ascender in a V shape and weighs only 20 pounds. If it broke one end would flail about while the other would have a swinging truss... that would also account for the erratic reflection of light on the one end of the object.

The 175-foot variant is thought to cost around $500,000 per air vehicle. Still to be determined is how the system can handle ultraviolet light in near-space and whether it can survive being buffeted around jet streams (which reside at about 30,000 to 45,000 feet altitude). (Jane’s Defence Weekly, Sept. 17, 2003 )

The ascender is nylon and cannot be picked up on radar, they're purpose is to back up the global hawks AKA it's a futuristic spy platform. Hanger at McClellan AFB in California.













[edit on 13-3-2007 by METACOMET]

Wow, great pics! Those things are huge! Looks like a big Tylenol hehe.

The original Ascender was, as I stated previously, destroyed (as a result of USAF mishandling) in a Texas wind-storm several years ago.

The AF retained the wreckage from the prototype, as specified by the contract.

To my knowledge, JP Aerospace has not built a second airship prototype; although I have been told that the US Air Force has attempted to induce JPA to do so, on several ocassions.

IF what we are seeing in this video is some kind of re-construction or further development version of the original Ascender, we might conclude that either the USAF built it themselves, or that they contracted with another government-contract firm to do so. Either course would be perfectly legitimate and reasonable, if they felt the concept had sufficient merit to pursue.

From the looks of the video, I'd say they Still have ALOT of bugs to work out!

Although impressive, and a joy to have worked on, the Ascender is a somewhat "primative" design: too many parts, too many failure-points IMHO.

But she did inspire me to design a stealth airship of my own, and that was a blast!

It's posted somewhere around here on one of the "retired" threads.

Pretty interesting video.

My first impression was of a small plane towing a big banner (kinda like the Will You Marry Me type things) or ballons or something like that just really far away.. doing some manuevers, since the silver glint was at the front followed by an undulating tail. However, its movement seemed a bit too erratic yet contained to a small area for that and the tail too big so the big ballons tied together theory that many mentioned in the thread was what came to mind next.

Anyways, pretty cool footage, whatever it is.. thanks for sharing.

AWESOME POST! Once we've had a chance to disect the data if this turns out to be what this is (and it could very well be) I will personally award you 100,000 ATS points for incredible RESEARCH!

I am feverishly waiting for the raw data which should be here Wednesday.

Springer...

eeek im stoked!!! i cannot wait to see what happens!
the whole ballon thing..umm it just doesnt look like ballons to me..i mean it looks like one solid object not a bunch of ballons..and themovement is soooo creepy to me dang..i wonder what it is either way it's unidentified!

please do keep us all posted on what happens next..have you thought of sending to george noory or art bell?
xoch

i havent read thru this whole thread but i have watched the video and find it quite intriguing. But i think the number one question is.. what happened to the object after you stopped filming? did it disappear? did it fall down? did it shoot away?

Originally posted by METACOMET

If that metal frame is the interior of the balloon I find it unlikely that the object in the video is one of those.
The way it moves suggests (to me at least) that it doesn't have such a rigid framework. It twists and squirms in a way that I'm sure is highly improbable for something with a metal frame to.

Thanks Springer but I can't take any credit for this. Bhadhidar stated that the "ascender" looks a lot like the object in question many pages back. Apparently he even worked on the project! Only on ATS!

Personally, I think it's the most rational explanation put forward yet. However, the light source on the craft is still boggling my mind.

What the heck is making that strobe? Solar reflection? Possibly. However, like someone posted earlier, the light seems to glow or ionize the immediate space around it.(1:10-1:18)

Is it the Truss reflecting the sun? Is a Mylar balloon reflecting the sun? IMO The way the light spits and glows is the strangest part of all of this.

Bhadhidar, do you suppose that an ascender-like craft might act like the object in question if it had a broken truss? Or would it just float to the ground?

Is it wednesday yet?

[edit on 13-3-2007 by METACOMET]

[edit on 13-3-2007 by METACOMET]

If that metal frame is the interior of the balloon I find it unlikely that the object in the video is one of those.

Maybe this is a better picture of the position of the truss.

I don't see how one of those things could twist and change shape and writhe about like a worm. It looks too rigid.

Perhaps if it's a much smaller, more flexible version of the Aerospace "Ascender", it might work. But even then, theres the question of the light.

I think perhaps the only way to figure out what it could have been (assuming it was man made), is to experiment ourselves with the various possibilities presented and see how easily it can be mimicked. Theres a good chance it's creation was inspired by things like the "Ascender" or even Balloons... Add/customize it with something different, till you get the desired performance and there you go. Since it isn't something that can be bought, and noone knows how it was made... people would think it's really weird...alien even.

Not saying it definately isn't an unknown lifeform...or weird alien operated UFO... but it would certainly be a big assumption untill we've experimented ourselves.

Will be interesting to see what come of the RAW footage though.

Originally posted by METACOMET
Thanks Springer but I can't take any credit for this. Bhadhidar stated that the "ascender" looks a lot like the object in question many pages back. Apparently he even worked on the project! Only on ATS!

Personally, I think it's the most rational explanation put forward yet. However, the light source on the craft is still boggling my mind.

What the heck is making that strobe? Solar reflection? Possibly. However, like someone posted earlier, the light seems to glow or ionize the immediate space around it.(1:10-1:18)

Is it the Truss reflecting the sun? Is a Mylar balloon reflecting the sun? IMO The way the light spits and glows is the strangest part of all of this.

Bhadhidar, do you suppose that an ascender-like craft might act like the object in question if it had a broken truss? Or would it just float to the ground?

Is it wednesday yet?

[edit on 13-3-2007 by METACOMET]

[edit on 13-3-2007 by METACOMET]

There were actually Three large trusses used on the original prototype: one under each "leg" (The inflated sections) and one transverse truss joining the two legs, like the cross-member in the letter "A" ("A" for "Ascender", clever, eh? :@@

The trusses were not made of metal.

They were actually built up of thin, matte black carbon fiber tubes, similar to fishing pole rods. The theory was that the multiple nylon/aluminum "joints" this design incorporated would allow for a certain amount of "harmonic dampening" by providing a controlled degree of flexibility to the overall structure.

Where a rigid oak tree might snap in a strong wind, a willow tree will survive by bending to the wind.

That was the theory, anyway.

In hindsight, those joints just provided too many points of possible structural failure, IMO.


What could be causing the strobbing light seen in the video?

Perhaps nothing more than a navigation light. All aircraft are required to have them. It may be just that the one we see is malfunctioning due to a system condition induced by apparent structural failure (ie.: an electrical short). Or maybe the light is functioning perfectly well, but we just can't see its regular pattern due to the gyrations of the main vehicle body.

Or...

Given the low radar signature provided by the construction materials used, we may be seeing nothing more than sunlight glintting off a metallic radar image enhancement "reflector". Perhaps photo analysis can tell us if the "flashes" coincide with the sun's position at the time of the sighting.

I may be wrong but I would expect a solar balloon to "ripple" in the air?
Does anyone have any videos of a solar balloon at high altitudes?

Originally posted by xEphon
I may be wrong but I would expect a solar balloon to "ripple" in the air?
Does anyone have any videos of a solar balloon at high altitudes?

The only videos I came across were of different shaped SB's. However, from what I read they are likely to act as the OP's object did if underinflated.

By the way, I stand on my guess of Solar Balloon and can't wait to see the data conclusion.

Jbondo: I'm tending to agree with you that it does look like that black SB that was posted earlier, but now im starting to question the light.

It would have to be a lightweight mirror or reflective lens otherwise it would drag that part of the balloon down like an anchor. I was also expecting the balloon to ripple as the wind went past it, but you said that an underinflated balloon behaves differently.

I guess we'll wait and see

cheeres