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Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Aerostat, stat!

Saturday, 14th May 2005 by

Aerostat balloons are all along the southern borders of the US. The one shown here is at Fort Huachuca located near Sierra Vista, Arizona. The “Tethered Aerostat Radar System” is a balloon-borne radar primarily used to provide radar data to US federal agencies involved in the “war on drugs”. Before these balloons came in the military’s radar systems were aimed at detecting high altitude fast moving objects (bombers). Small, slow moving aircraft flying low could easily slip into the US, running drugs and the like.

Thanks: Andrew & Brad Mohr

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Locations: Arizona / Categories:

9 Responses to 'Aerostat, stat!'

  1. 1. huphtur says: May 14th, 2005 at 5:57 pm

    if you pan to the left, you will see the balloon’s shadow

  2. 2. robertw says: May 15th, 2005 at 10:58 am

    Looks like a DJ’s disc player from way up here

  3. 3. Kristian Twombly says: May 15th, 2005 at 1:40 pm

    Dang - I suggested this one a few weeks ago…I wonder if I’m doing something wrong…..

  4. 4. pubs says: May 18th, 2005 at 2:28 pm

    Oh my god! they killed kenny!!
    Can you see it?!
    oh…ok!

    :P

  5. 5. robert w says: May 18th, 2005 at 2:58 pm

    oh yeah it does look like kenny. uncanny. Obviously the makers of South Park went there for inspiration

  6. 6. Glenn says: May 27th, 2005 at 6:24 am

    Not a hi-rez, unfortunately, but here’s an aerostat site near Matagorda, Texas.

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    If you zoom out a couple steps, you can see the cooling pond for the South Texas Nuclear Power Plant (northwest).

  7. 7. Glenn says: May 27th, 2005 at 6:37 am

    …and here’s the one in Eagle Pass, TX (hi-rez).

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    The shadow is NNW of this image.

  8. 8. Dave Taylor says: February 3rd, 2006 at 1:26 am

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
    is the link to the Aerostat near me, unfortunately a remote area with poor resolution.

  9. 9. doob says: March 12th, 2006 at 10:50 pm

    And what it is down there? Launch site or what?

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