4 things to know in the aftermath of the Chinese spy balloon
A suspected Chinese satellite produced a laser show over Hawaii
On Jan. 30, the Twitter account of the Subaru Telescope, an "8.2-meter optical-infrared telescope on Maunakea, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan," reported that it "captured green laser lights in the cloudy sky over" the Hawaiian city two days earlier. The tweet attributed the lights to "a remote-sensing altimeter satellite."
On Jan 28, 2023, HST, Subaru-Asahi Star Camera captured green laser lights in the cloudy sky over Maunakea, Hawai`i. The lights are thought to be from a remote-sensing altimeter satellite ICESAT-2/43613.
— Subaru Telescope Eng (@SubaruTel_Eng) January 31, 2023
Watch the video:https://t.co/xqoJvSa24s#SubaruTelescopepic.twitter.com/5hhIsewuNp
A week later, on Feb. 6, the Subaru Telescope's YouTube account updated the description of the accompanying video footage to include a statement from Dr. Anthony Martino. Identifying Martino as "a NASA scientist working on" the altimeter satellite initially credited as the source of the lights, it noted his conclusion that "it is not by their instrument but by others."
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"His colleagues, Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff et al., did a simulation of the trajectory of satellites that have a similar instrument and found a most likely candidate as the [aerosol and carbon dioxide detection lidar] instrument by the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS Satellite," the statement added.
According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Daqi-1 is the first in a series of satellites developed by the country to "monitor atmospheric pollution, provide remote sensing data support for environment authorities, and also support scientific research into global climate change." It launched on Apr. 15, 2022.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
