Thread: Pentagon calls mystery missile ‘unexplained,’ cannot rul

On a local TV interview some old retired government official, I don't recall his name but he looked like he was 80 or so, said the U.S. had probably fired am ICBM just to remind India, China, North Korea, etc. that we can hit any place on earth anytime we want. Just to back up what ever Obama told them behind the scenes while he is in their neighborhood.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Probably just an undocumented surface to air missile. They should just find out who launched it and allow them to pay a fine, promise to learn to speak English, and keep on with their activities.

W

LOL!!!!!

Originally Posted by TexasBorn

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

If that's a hobbyist, my hat is off to him. Sparklers are all I can confidently handle.

Betsy, there are other hobbyists that create elaborate setups that can literally travel to the edge of space. Pretty impressive.

It looks too big for that. Besides, hobbyists launching something like that would have to get approval, so the authorities would have an answer. If some private person was going to launch something like that, they would need to get FAA approval at least.

One guy on a blog is claiming it's just a weird looking jet contrail.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

One guy on a blog is claiming it's just a weird looking jet contrail.

Sounds like a cover story.

Look at 0:13 (after the stinking ad that is) in this video here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id= ... photovideo

You can see a red glow from a rocket exhaust. I live in an area where a lot of passenger jets fly over at high altitudes and I've never seen one that had a red glowing exhaust.

Must be those wild and crazy cartel guys looking for new ways to smuggle drugs over the border....

I guess we will all know in due time what it was....or not

I was watching that video, and it doesn't look fast enough to be a missile, I would suspect a new secret CIA spy plane with the sun shining on it just right.

Back in the 1960's the CIA let Americans believe they were seeing space alien flying saucers when actually they were seeing the CIA A-12 blackbird spy plane flying at 90,000 feet. Now those blackbird spy planes can be seen at any decent air museum.

Mystery Solved? Missile Launch Could Be a Jet Contrail
(Pictures @ link.)

Published November 09, 2010
FoxNews.com

A mysterious vapor trail caught on camera has the military scrambling for answers -- but is it just a jet? On the left, a still image from KCBS video of the launch. On the right, a very similar event from Dec. 31, 2009 commonly believed to be an airplane.

A video that appears to show a missile launch off the coast of California is so far "unexplained" by anyone in the military, a Pentagon spokesman told reporters Tuesday -- but what seems mysterious could be nothing more than an airplane.

Federal officials do not consider the event a threat. And they aren't the only ones.

According to a post on ContrailScience.com, the visible exhaust from a jet engine, a trail of condensed water vapor called a contrail, resembles a missile trail when seen from some angles.

The confusion between a missile launch and a jet plane launch is caused by several common misconceptions, the site notes, explaining that the angle of launch, the direction of flight, and even the shape of the Earth can lead to the illusion. And indeed, when you look at certain images of jet launches, they do look a fair bit like missiles.

The site's author goes on to note other factors that could connect the unexplained launch to a jet engine. There's no no bright rocket flare, just a few flashes of sunlight, and a sunlit trail. Plus the unexplained craft is incredibly slow, the site notes, while rockets move incredibly fast.

A similar mystery event took place on Dec. 31, 2009, when a launch in the skies over Orange County mystified people. The Orange Country Register noted a few days later that the event was variously described as a rocket launch or jet contrails. ContrailScience.com argues that both events were simply planes -- seen from an unexpected angle, that is.

A Boeing spokesman could not immediately confirm this potential explanation for event. Meanwhile, military officials continue to puzzle it over.

Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters the video is so far "unexplained" by anyone in the U.S. Military. The military is examining the video provided by KCBS news and officials say they hope to have answers soon.

The Missile Defense Agency told Fox News it did not launch any test missile last night that could explain the dramatic images. The Navy and the Air Force were also unable to offer an explanation.

"It does not appear that this was a regularly scheduled missile test," Lapan said. "Before a missile test the military sends notifications to mariners, airmen, and air traffic controllers to stay clear of the area," and according to Lapan it doesn't appear those warnings were sent.

ContrailScience.com's plane theory may explain why the military simply doesn't know what the so-called mystery missile was.
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Pictures @

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/ ... -contrail/

Whatever it was, it didn't hit anything of ours. Thank goodness.

U.S. sees no threat in alleged 'missile'

Pentagon says it's baffled, but scientists suggest it's a regular aircraft with spectacular contrail

Video: Pentagon investigating mystery projectile

Show more videos

U.S. officials said Tuesday they couldn't say what might have created a mysterious plume that set off an Internet frenzy after it streaked across the Southern California sky Monday night. But they said they were confident there was no threat to the United States.

Speculation immediately arose that some sort of rocket or missile must have been fired after Los Angeles television station KCBS videotaped the spectacular trail from one of its traffic helicopters.

But a Federal Aviation Administration official told NBC News that there were "no reports of unusual sightings" and that a review of radar replays "did not reveal a fast-moving object in that area."

That's in line with the observations of scientists interviewed by NBC News and msnbc.com, who said that for all the sensation the video created on the Internet, the contrail was consistent what you'd see behind a normal jetliner or other large aircraft if you happened to spot it at sunset from the unusual aerial angle of the TV helicopter — in other words, it was probably an optical illusion.

The Boeing Co. occasionally launches aircraft from San Nicolas Island, off the California coast, as part of its anti-missile laser testing programs, but two company officials told msnbc.com that it launched nothing Monday.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University who tracks suborbital launches, said the last known such test was Oct. 21. He endorsed the conclusion of other scientists and satellite observers who said the contrail appeared to be moving too slowly to be the result of any sort of missile launch.

Whatever it was, "there is no indication of any threat to our nation," the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.

NASA and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency didn't immediately respond to requests for information.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40087187/ns ... y/#slice-2