Panic prevailed in Mogaligidda village in Telangana’s Vikarabad on Wednesday, December 7, when the villagers noticed an unusual balloon hovering in the air. A huge circular object and the balloon later descended in an open land, which turned into a spectacle as the bemused villagers gathered to peek at the unfamiliar object. But, it was clarified that the unidentified object was a balloon sent by the National Balloon Facility (NBF) which is associated with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Hyderabad to study the atmosphere.
Confirming the same, G Praveen Reddy, a lab assistant from NBF said, “We had sent an instrument in a hydrogen balloon into the sky for research purposes. The balloon was launched at 5.30 am today. After the necessary data required for the study was collected, the balloon was cut off from the instrument which made a landfall in Vikarabad.”
He said that they have recovered the instrument from the village, and said that the local police were already informed about the research. “The instrument has our contact numbers engraved too, in case we could not locate the equipment,” Praveen said.
Panic prevailed in #Vikarabad when villagers spotted an #UFO hovering in the sky. Officials have clarified that the object is a #ResearchBalloon which was studying the atmosphere. The #NationalBalloonFacility had sent this balloon for research purposes, said official.#Telangana pic.twitter.com/r7dw5bc72E
— Surya Reddy (@jsuryareddy) December 7, 2022
This particular research was carried out in collaboration with scientists from Spain, according to Praveen. However, he could not specify the exact research being carried out by NBF. TNM was not able to speak with any scientist involved in this project.
Neither NBF nor TIFR have given an official statement on this incident.
Planetary Society of India’s Director, Raghunandan, however, clarified that the research by NBF was conducted to study the atmosphere. “Last month itself, TIFR had informed about this project,” he said.
Some Telugu news channels were, however, quick to add alien conspiracy theories to the ‘mysterious’ object.