Topline
The Navy completed an operation to recover pieces of the Chinese spy balloon Thursday, according to a statement Friday, as U.S. officials continue an investigation into the object that was shot down over South Carolina earlier this month—and the mystery persists about the other three objects subsequently shot down.
An effort to recover debris of the Chinese spy balloon concluded Thursday.
Key Facts
The Navy “successfully located and retrieved” all debris from the balloon, according to U.S. Northern Command, and all Navy and Coast Guard vessels have left the area off the South Carolina coast.
Pieces of debris are being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for “counterintelligence exploitation.”
A separate effort to locate an object shot down over Lake Huron has concluded, though no debris has been recovered, U.S. officials told the Associated Press.
Officials from the U.S. and Canada have also failed to recover any debris from objects shot down over the Yukon and northern Alaska.
What We Don’t Know
It is still unknown what the three other objects are and what purpose they served, President Joe Biden said Thursday, though “nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program.” The U.S. has determined that the objects were “most likely” balloons tied to private companies, or recreational or research institutions studying weather.
What To Watch For
Biden noted the U.S. is working to analyze debris from the balloon—picked from the ocean’s floor—that has already been recovered.
Surprising Fact
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, an Illinois-based club of amateur balloonists, reported one of its balloons “missing in action” after last reporting its location over Alaska on February 11—the same day the U.S. shot down an object in the same region. Though the group said it is “not unusual” for balloons to not transmit for “significant periods of time,” one member told Politico the shot-down object “could be one of our balloons.”
Key Background
The balloon entered American airspace on January 28 before traveling from Alaska to the Atlantic Ocean over the course of a week. Three other objects—located over Lake Huron, the Yukon and northern Alaska—were shot down, though government officials have said there is no evidence they are of Chinese origin like the balloon. The White House has ruled out extraterrestrial origins for the objects, noting the objects were likely for “some commercial or benign purpose.” In a statement earlier this week, China vowed to take unnamed “countermeasures” against the U.S. for popping its balloon.
Further Reading
Everything We Know About The ‘High-Altitude Object’ Shot Down Over Alaska (Forbes)
U.S. Shoots Down Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Over Atlantic (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/02/17/us-completes-recovery-of-chinese-spy-balloon-debris-fbi-to-analyze/