Story Archive

Boom

Drivers in Castro Valley, Calif., called police to report a strange looking box next to the road. “Taped up with the only word exposed, ‘dangerous’,” said Sgt. Michael Norton of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad. “In addition to that, it was making a mechanical noise.” Norton decided to blow it up with an explosive charge, which destroyed the contents. Investigators then found the rest of the note marking the box, including the word “not” that had been in front of “dangerous.” The box had contained about $1,000 worth of research equipment from San Jose State University designed to measure ozone in the upper atmosphere. A parachute deploys when the balloon pops about 25 km (15.5 miles) up, then falls safely to earth, where the finder can collect a reward for returning the equipment. “We are now more aware that this kind of equipment is flying around the atmosphere,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly, “and they are more aware they need to better label it as a piece of scientific equipment.” (MS/East Bay Times, KGO San Francisco) ...In the meantime, funding for the project is up in the air.