No one’s pointing any fingers just yet, but an Illinois hobbyist balloon club says one of its missing inflatables was in the same area that an F-22 downed an unidentified object over the central Yukon last week. According to a report in Aviation Week, the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s pico balloon’s last reported position was at 38,910 feet off the coast of Alaska on Feb. 10. A wind model put it over the Yukon the next day.
Pico balloons are small inflatables filled with hydrogen that are equipped with GPS trackers and radio transmitters capable of communicating through surface-based Ham radio stations. Pico refers to the small size of the electronics package. The balloon and radio package weigh about half an ounce. NIBBB’s pico was launched on Oct. 10, 2022, and had been in flight for 123 days. Its station call was K9Y0. NIBBB said it was on its third global circumnavigation.
As NORAD ramped up the search for balloons possibly violating U.S. airspace, an object described as cylindrical in shape and silvery in color was tracked off Alaska and into the Yukon. An F-22 brought the object down with an AIM-9X on Feb. 11. NIBBB isn’t saying that their balloon was the F-22’s target, but its disappearance coincides with the shoot down. On Wednesday, President Biden conceded that the three objects downed by Air Force fighters were probably not surveillance balloons but high-altitude research or recreational balloons.
On its website, NIBBB reports that it has launched no fewer than 24 pico balloons from various sites and many have made impressive global circumnavigations. The balloons—made in China—are 32 inches in diameter with a 100-inch circumference that expands to full size when the envelope reaches altitudes as high as 50,000. The club said pre-stretching the envelope has resulted in more reliable performance. The electronics package is solar powered and operates only when the sun is above the horizon. With only 40 ma of power, the transmitters emit a weak signal that operators track through a computer program called Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR). The balloon costs about $16, while the F-22 that downed it goes for about $150 million, plus $400,000 for an AIM-9X.
