Mysterious Orbs Fly Over Kansas City, Stumping National Weather Service

Today’s weather: cloudy with a chance of … UFOs?

KMBC 9 News reported two unidentified spheres spotted hovering over Kansas City, Missouri on the evening of June 20. Located close to Kansas City International Airport, the mysterious rotund shapes perplexed locals in the area, including the regional National Weather Service office.

That didn’t stop others from drawing their own conclusions; the internet erupted in a memes-torm welcoming our potential alien overlords. Sports fans even conducted a poll to see who would be more interesting to our extraterrestrial voyeurs: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, or the local barbeque. (The consensus? Mahomes.)

But some didn’t believe the encounter was anything out of this world. Locals speculated that the orbs were nothing more than weather balloons taking barometric measures; others suggested they were Google Loon balloons—stratospheric technology that provides internet service to rural and remote areas. Still others claimed they might be part of a test flight launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. military’s research sector.

The latter suspicion was boosted by KMBC-TV reporter William Joy, who tweeted the objects were most likely DARPA balloons hailing from Maryland. According to MIT Technology Review, the agency is testing high-altitude satellites similar to the Google Loons, which would allow for unhindered communication in remote or disaster-hit areas.

Unlike Google Loons and other stratospheric orbs before it, DARPA’s models utilize sensors that read wind speed and directions at greater distances. These sensors allow for the balloons to adjust their position to remain in one spot, explaining why the Kansas City orbs were steadily hanging in place as opposed to bobbing around like apples in a tub.

UFO believers might be disappointed, but there are plenty of other X-Files-worthy stories still to be solved.