SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The United States military shot down another high-altitude object yesterday afternoon over Lake Huron in Michigan, the latest of four objects shot down in the last 8 days.
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The events have the internet buzzing about the military, international intrigue, and even possible alien contact.
The latest event was somewhat overshadowed by Sunday's Superbowl game.
"When picking up a fumble and running to the endzone is the lead story after the third UFO is shot down over the United States, that is remarkable," said KCBS Political Analyst Marc Sandalow on Monday.
While these are definitely unidentified flying objects, but that doesn’t mean that they necessarily came from outer space.
"The military now prefers to call them UAPs, for unidentified aerial phenomenon," he said. This was done to reduce the confusion with pop culture references like The Twilight Zone.
While the federal government did attempt to clear up some of the confusion around these events Sunday night, they did not definitely say that extraterrestrials were not involved.
"Chances are these are more spy balloons, maybe by the Chinese," said Sandalow. "They might just be personal drones that people let get way, way too high – some sort of equipment, maybe spy equipment on them."
It is possible that the military isn’t sure what these objects are yet, but the coincidence of shooting down a spy balloon just days earlier is a bit suspicious.
"The public is going to demand an explanation before the news media, let alone the conspiracy theorists run wild with it," he said.
Meanwhile, China has been alleging that the United States has flown more than 10 similar balloons into its airspace in the last year.
But while the technology has been around for a long time, it’s not really clear why it would still be more useful today than other solutions.
These latest objects were shot down because they were low enough in the sky to pose a potential hazard to airplanes.
One explanation, which is not an official explanation, that the military has adjusted its radars since the first balloon was shot down to be able to pick up smaller objects.
"It's possible that these things have been around for a while and that we're just noticing them now," said Sandalow.
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