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Pentagon can't explain 'missile' off California

WASHINGTON (A) – The Pentagon said Tuesday it was trying to determine
if a missile was launched Monday off the coast of Southern California
and, if so, who might have fired it.

Spokesmen for the Navy, Air Force, and other military organizations said
they were looking into a video posted on the CBS News website that shows
an object shooting across the sky and leaving a large contrail, or vapor
trail, over the Pacific Ocean.

The video was shot by a KCBS helicopter, the station said Tuesday.

"Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has
been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from,"
Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said.

Lapan said that "all indications" are that the Department of Defense was
not involved within the mystery object, and that the contrail might have
been created by something flown by a private company.

Normally any missile test would require notification so that mariners
and pilots could be warned or air space closed, but that may not have
been done in this case, Lapan said.

"It does seem implausible, and that's why at this point the operative
term is 'unexplained'," he said. "Nobody ... within the Department of
Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this
contrail is."

Missile tests are common off Southern California. Launches are conducted
from vessels and platforms on an ocean range west of Point Mugu.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

"We can confirm that there is no threat to our nation, and from all
indications this was not a launch by a foreign military," the statement
said. "We will provide more information as it becomes available."

NORTHCOM is the U.S. defense command and NORAD is a U.S.-Canadian
organization charged with protecting the U.S. from the threat of
missiles or hostile aircraft.

- - -

Ship-launched missiles with minds of their own, right out of sci-fi!

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On Nov 9, 6:27*pm, JR North wrote:
Prolly just a harmless amateur rocket club or lone guy. Plenty of 'em in
the wide-open areas. You can buy some honker rocket motors, not just the
weeny Estes variety.
JR


Rocket motors are rated in total impulse (newton-seconds) ranges. The
ranges are alphabetical, as in A, B, C, etc. (The Estes ones actually
started at 1/4A) Each range is a doubling of the last, so a C is 5 -
10 NS, a D is 10 - 20, an E is 20 - 40 NS. You get the picture, they
get big quick. :-

High Power Rocketry uses motors up to an O. A military Stinger
missile is reputed to be a K class motor. I've personally flown a
rocket that used an L, two J, and two I motors that combined put it in
the M range. Six inches in diameter, 13 feet tall, 30 lbs. Hit about
6,000 feet, and recovered on the field. Fun stuff, but I've been out
of that for some years now.

Do a search on Tripoli Rocketry Association, LDRS, TRA to get some
hits, video, and articles about this stuff. It can be very serious,
very expensive, and very fun. Before you say it's dangerous, just
remember that at least a few years ago, no one had been seriously
injured or killed flying these rockets. Several have been killed with
control line and R/C airplanes. These groups are self-governing to an
extent, with a certification process to allow access to the big
motors.

It's worth seeing a launch if you ever get a chance.

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On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, HarryK wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.

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On Tue, 9 Nov 2010 15:56:57 -0800 (PST), Jack
wrote:

It's worth seeing a launch if you ever get a chance.

We have (had) this thing called the space shuttle here in Florida.
Any idea what class that might fall in to? :-)

It's way cool watching it launch.

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On 11/9/10 7:46 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.


Or, just as likely, they're clueless. But I agree that it was some sort
of U.S. military "exercise."

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On Nov 9, 7:50*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 9 Nov 2010 15:56:57 -0800 (PST), Jack
wrote:

It's worth seeing a launch if you ever get a chance.

We have (had) this thing called the space shuttle here in Florida.
Any idea what class that might fall in to? * :-) *

It's way cool watching it launch.

Yes it is.

Even more cool is a Saturn V. A Shuttle launch is *mild* compared.

Supposedly riding on a Shuttle is like riding in a fast car. Riding
on a Saturn V is like being hit by a truck.

The Saturn V launches broke windows on the mainland. 7.5 million
pounds of thrust coming off the pad. Kerosene and LOX. Un-freakin-
believable.

Today's astronauts are no wimps, but they *can* be teachers and such
for a reason. Armstrong, Aldrin, Lovell, Shepard, and of course,
Glenn... all of them, had big, knobby ones. Amazing what they, and
NASA, did.

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On 11/9/10 8:27 PM, Gene wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:21:10 -0500, wrote:

On 11/9/10 7:46 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.


Or, just as likely, they're clueless. But I agree that it was some sort
of U.S. military "exercise."

Don't discount an amateur rocketeer that hasn't done his homework in
researching the FARs....






500 bottle rockets, rubber-banded together. :)

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On Nov 9, 8:27*pm, Gene wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:21:10 -0500, HarryK wrote:
On 11/9/10 7:46 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, *wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.

Or, just as likely, they're clueless. But I agree that it was some sort
of U.S. military "exercise."

Don't discount an amateur rocketeer that hasn't done his homework in
researching the FARs....

It's actually pretty unlikely that an "amateur rocketeer" could have
gotten far enough to pull off something like this without knowing full
well what the implications are. Building a successful motor this big
takes quite a bit of perseverance, knowledge, and money. And you
can't buy one without a bit of vesting by your peers, which requires
the same knowledge.

They know what it was.

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On 11/9/10 8:44 PM, Gene wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:31:07 -0500, wrote:

On 11/9/10 8:27 PM, Gene wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:21:10 -0500, wrote:

On 11/9/10 7:46 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.


Or, just as likely, they're clueless. But I agree that it was some sort
of U.S. military "exercise."

Don't discount an amateur rocketeer that hasn't done his homework in
researching the FARs....






500 bottle rockets, rubber-banded together. :)

A lawn chair and a bunch of balloons can get you over 15,000 feet.....







At Warp
..000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000001,
maybe.

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On 11/9/10 10:28 PM, Gene wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:20:08 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:21:10 -0500, wrote:

On 11/9/10 7:46 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:20:02 -0500, wrote:

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a
statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying
that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a
missile. It provided no further details.

Of course that implies that they know what it was - probably some
classified test.


Or, just as likely, they're clueless. But I agree that it was some sort
of U.S. military "exercise."

NBC is saying this was just a commercial airliner contrail shot from
an angle that made it look like a rocket.

That really sounds far fetched..... I work at an airport and we do
enjoy watching contrails and discussing aerodynamics of same, given
appropriate metrological conditions.....

BUT, even with perfect metrological conditions, mistaking that for a
rocket/missile shot really tries the imagination....

If it was a missile, it was the S L O W E S T missile every
launched. Even the reflection off the object looks like the reflection
off of a plane at sunset. The optical illusion makes more sense than a
very very slow missile.

--
Spoofers can go to Hell in a handbasket