Objects in the Sky

This year, several balloons and satellites were mistaken as UFOs by ground observers. "Spy Balloons" were seen over the US, and Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites were misidentified as UFOs.

Famously, the US Government identified, shot down, and tried to recover four "Spy Balloons." At the time, the US Government thought that the Chinese Government launched these balloons to collect data as they traversed the skies over the United States. However, the US Government later concluded that "there was no intelligence collection by" the balloon shot down over South Carolina (Martin, 2023). However, this was not the only balloon that was shot down. Three balloons were also shot down over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Yukon, Canada, but their debie fields were never located (Bertrand and Liebermann, 2023). Interestingly, "spy balloons" were discussed in the US Department of Defenses's 2023 annual report on China's military and security. This report indicates that China has an extensive high-altitude balloon program and that the "program is linked to the [Chinese] military’s hypersonic missile program (Gertz, 2023). It is, therefore, possible that one of these three balloons is truly a Chinese "spy balloon." However, until the debris is found and findings are released, we may never know."

Over the last couple of months, streaks of light have been seen in the sky across the United States. Unfortunately, these were not UFOs but rather satellites launched by Elon Musk's Starlink. When these satellites are launched into orbit, they appear to be a line of dots moving across the night sky. This unique sighting has caused many viewers to think they have seen an extraterrestrial UFO. As of right now, it is estimated that Starlink has over 3,000 operational satellites in space that are providing internet service across the globe (Dobrijevic, 2023). However, it is possible that Starlink will eventually have over 42,000. The continued success of Starlink means that these sightings will likely continue into the future.