According to
The Wall Street Journal, the object appeared to be a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload". On February 12, after receiving a briefing from the
United States National Security Council, U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the U.S. believes that both the Yukon and Alaska objects were balloons. National Security Council spokesman
John Kirby stated that they were considering that the balloon, as well as
other balloons shot down during the same time period, were "tied to commercial or research entities and therefore totally benign." Minister of National Defence
Anita Anand said the object was flying at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. She called it cylindrical and smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down a few days earlier. Anand dismissed the idea that there was any reason the impact of the object was of public concern. The
White House said president
Joe Biden and Trudeau had "discussed the importance of recovering the object in order to determine more details on its purpose or origin".
Amateur radio enthusiasts speculated that the object may be an amateur radio
pico balloon with
callsign K9YO, from the fact that the balloon's last reported contact was immediately before it drifted over Yukon, at around the same place and time where the shootdown was reported. The balloon had been airborne for 124 days and
circumnavigated the globe 7 times before being reported missing. High-altitude, circumnavigational pico balloons cost between $12 and $180, weigh less than 6 lb and are filled with helium or hydrogen gas. Hobbyists have been using them for a decade. Pico balloons are small enough they are not considered a hazard to aircraft, and thus this balloon was registered with the
Federal Communications Commission but not the
Federal Aviation Administration. == Shootdown ==