U.S. officials are currently trying to recover fragments of the three mysterious flying objects in order to determine their mission.
In the long tradition of public conjecture regarding mysterious flying phenomena, numerous individuals have pondered the possibility of alien activity.
"I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no - again no - indication of aliens (or) extraterrestrial activity," Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said.
U.S. officials have characterized the object shot down off the East Coast on February 4 as a surveillance balloon, while the three others stopped in their tracks on Feb. 10, 11, and 12 have been referred to as unidentifiable objects traveling slowly through the sky at almost the same altitude as planes.
However, this does not imply that officials believe the objects are unexplained or related to previously recorded "unidentified aerial phenomena" - which are equally unlikely to be of extraterrestrial origin.
And at least two high-ranking U.S. officials have used the phrase "balloon" to characterize the current encroachers, despite the Pentagon's official policy of avoiding the term.
Instead, the events of the past two weeks have prompted a broader discussion about a suspected Chinese reconnaissance program involving high-altitude balloons.
During Monday's White House briefing, John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications for the National Security Council, stated that Chinese government officials may have hoped to use aerial craft instead of space-based spy satellites because a balloon travels closer to the ground and provides higher-quality images and data.
He noted that China's alleged operation is not new, and it's possible that we're hearing more about these things today due to the military's improved ability to identify and monitor them.
According to U.S. officials, China's assertion that the suspected espionage balloon was simply a meteorological balloon that veered off course is false. No nation has claimed responsibility for the remaining three objects.
Melissa Dalton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, told reporters on Sunday that the objects were destroyed by military jets out of "an abundance of caution" because they did not constitute a physical threat to anyone on the ground.
Dalton also stated that a variety of enterprises, nations, and research organizations can deploy high-altitude objects for "purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate research."
NASA and the National Weather Service report that weather balloons and research balloons often fly at heights greater than 100,000 feet (30,480 meters), considerably above where commercial airplanes typically operate.
This is one reason why the weekend's shot-down objects were so troubling. According to Kirby, they were discovered flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet (6,096 and 12,192 meters) and might have posed a threat to aircraft in flight.
