SAN ANGELO, TX -- The mysterious object in the skies above San Angelo on Wednesday was not a weather balloon according to information from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, TX.
CSBF says it was superBIT Flight number 1599P, an unmanned, high altitude, scientific research platform. SuperBIT was launched from Palestine, TX and flew 227 nautical miles from the launch site and landed on the Espy Ranch near Fort McKavett.
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Above: The NASA SuperBIT balloon landed on the Espy Ranch in Fort Mckavett on June 6, 2018. (Contributed/Tammie Baze)
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Above: The BETTII payload, another type of payload and NASA balloon program that was just re-opened after the Sterling City payload crash last year. (BETTII Facebook Page)
On June 9, 2017 a similar scientific balloon’s payload crashed near Sterling City.
CSBF site manager Dwayne Orr said Thursday morning the superBIT is a Superpressure Balloon- born Imaging Telescope. “SuperBIT is the latest technology imaging system that was taking images of Jupiter and the Pillars of Creation. It also uses infrared imaging and spectroscopy to take images at near space altitude.” Orr said.
Orr said when they launch the superBIT, they have a chase plane and a recovery crew following its every move. “They have already picked up the superBIT from the landing site.” Orr said.
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Above: The NASA SuperBIT balloon landed on the Espy Ranch in Fort Mckavett on June 6, 2018. (Contributed/Tammie Baze)
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Orbital ATK, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons in the over 35 years of operation.
The 1,540-pound SuperBIT payload will fly on a 29.47-million-cubic-foot scientific balloon; when fully inflated, the balloon is as large as a football stadium. As the balloon ascends to its operational float altitude of 126,000 feet, it may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunset and sunrise. Anyone can track real-time operational status of the balloon mission by visiting www.csbf.nasa.gov/palestine/psn.htm.
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Man! I was expecting aliens.
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Permalinkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiscpMQTuRA
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PermalinkPeople of the Earth can you hear me?
Came a voice from the sky on that magical night
And in the colors of a thousand sunsets
They traveled through the world on a silvery light
The people of the Earth stood waiting
Watching as the ships came one by one
Setting fire to the sky as they landed
Carrying to the world Children Of The Sun
All at once came a sound from the inside
Then a beam made of light hit the ground
Everyone felt the sound of their heartbeat
Every Man - Every Woman - Every Child
They passed the limits of imagination
Through the doors - to a world - of another time
On the journey of a million lifetimes
With the Children Of The Sun - They started their climb
No more gravity, nothing holding them down
Floating endlessly, as their ship leaves the ground
through the walls of time - at the speed of light
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PermalinkI keep thinking about those two guys on the history channel that always talk about extra terrestrials. They are fairly convincing at times. This is not one of those situations but real science. I wonder how they know where it will land?
My previous comments on the original article were a little silly. I was afraid that if I didn't improve the quality of my comments, or at least condense them into some meaningful, beneficial, form, that I could be placed on the witless protection program. Ha ha, don't drink, type, and listen to rock n roll music while imagining we are being visited by little green people.
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PermalinkIn all probability, we're not alone. That's not to say there's any definitive evidence of sentient, intelligent life beyond Earth, rather that "life", at the very least, on a molecular level is very likely to exist in on other planets with hospitable conditions.
"Contact" will more than likely be through the lens of a microscope, before an encounter with an advanced alien species.
Children think they are the center of the Universe, for their lack of the ability to yet conceptualize experiences outside of their own. For animals, this ability is non-existent, and their world will always begin and end at the tip of their noses. There are, however, adults of the age of reason who will assuredly claim that we are the center, and sole occupants of the Universe, due to some strange allegiance to Geocentric nonsense.
Cheers RR.
There's a 70's Psychedelic Funk group called Parliament-Funkadelic. They had extra terrestrial themes and in their live shows, sometimes had giant space crafts descend onto the stage. Think Barbarella meets Sly and The Family Stone. Good Stuff.
https://youtu.be/uQFGkGk4PSc?t=9m11s
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PermalinkLot of funky stuff going on. It seems more silly because i always thought funky meant that your tennis shoes needed some Dr scholls foot power. Lord knows it is hot in Texas.
Talking about space, when I was a kid something happened. It was late at night and I was riding on the passenger side and sort of daydreaming. When I looked over to my right up into the night sky, I saw a huge object hurdling through space. I looked intently into the object and was a massive rock on fire hurdling towards the earth. I couldn't turn my eyes away from it. Then, it flashed out and a sonic boom because the object was breaking the speed of sound.
It all happened so fast, I turned to the driver and said, did you see that. They missed the whole thing. Later I researched and wrote a letter to a scientist named Robert Haag. He sent me an autographed copy of his book and explained what I saw flying through space. He signed it rock on man in his own hand writing.
it was a massive meteorite that crashed into our atmosphere.
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