# did NO ONE on the SDMB hear about the Mystery ICBM launch off L.A.? Newslink **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105 "2010-11-09T23:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/1 "2010-11-09T23:07:42Z")
An unexplained & unidentified ICBM was launched, & filmed, 35 miles off of L.A. > **[Mysterious missile off California coast has many puzzled](https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1109/Mysterious-missile-off-California-coast-has-many-puzzled)** > > Mysterious missile: CBS affiliate KCBS caught the launch on camera and reported that military officials were 'tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.' > [@](#): > > Few details are surfacing about the mysterious missile launch seen Monday night (Nov. 8) from a point just off the southern coast of California, with aerospace and defense officials trying to find out exactly who launched it and why. > > “We’re looking into it,” Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, told [SPACE.com](http://SPACE.com). > > CBS affiliate KCBS caught the launch on camera and reported that military officials were “tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.” > > In the video, a long plume of exhaust can be seen as the missile rockets into the evening sky. The launch occurred about 35 miles out at sea, west of Los Angeles and north of Catalina Island. Link to site with video [http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/missile-fired-off-the-la-coast-baffles-nation\_b15038](http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/missile-fired-off-the-la-coast-baffles-nation_b15038) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/2 "2010-11-09T23:09:41Z")
[http://m.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/the-mysterious-california-missile-launch-that-wasnt/5646/](http://m.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/the-mysterious-california-missile-launch-that-wasnt/5646/) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/3 "2010-11-10T00:07:21Z")
Maybe one of us fired it and didn’t want to draw unwanted attention? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/4 "2010-11-10T00:09:14Z")
And now it’s said that it was probably just a jet contrail. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/5 "2010-11-10T00:10:47Z")
I heard about it, but I posted it on another forum. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/6 "2010-11-10T00:11:57Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Maybe one of us fired it and didn’t want to draw unwanted attention? Yeah…and where \*was \*Skald yesterday? Actually, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him. He would have claimed responsibility right away 🙂 I heard about it this morning and looked for a thread, but didn’t feel like starting one since it was pretty obvious that nobody knows what was going on, or if anyone does they’re not telling… ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/7 "2010-11-10T00:35:14Z")
That news anchor rather butchered the name of the satellite contractor mentioned in connection with the Delta-II launch ([Thales Alenia Space at 1:15](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHFQyr0Zy7k#t=1m15s)). ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/8 "2010-11-10T01:09:32Z")
[Multiple Threads…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=584980) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/9 "2010-11-10T01:16:20Z")
Everyone’s acting like we can’t tell whether it was going more or less straight up or a trick of perspective and a normal contrail. But that’s crap. It’s only 35 miles away – fly out there and circle the contrail to look at it from different angles. I’ll be waiting for that report. You can’t _possibly_ tell me nobody cared enough to do that with _an apparent ICBM launch off our coast_. And where’s the radar data? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/10 "2010-11-10T03:14:07Z")
Arms Control Wonk posits [jet contrail](http://armscontrolwonk.com/) (9 NOVEMBER 2010). ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/11 "2010-11-10T16:10:33Z")
**Bosda** , the article you cite mentions a possible mystery missile based on the contrail. Where on earth did you get the idea that it could have been an _ **ICBM** _, though? 😕 Heck, I was on a Navy warship back in the 1980s right off the coast of California that test-fired a [Standard missile](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-66_Standard), which a huge missile, but certainly not an ICBM. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/12 "2010-11-10T16:19:27Z")
I love rational explanations and assumed it was just a jet contrail, like the New Year’s Eve one [last year](http://uncinus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/4/). I’m still about 90% sure that’s what it was, but the smoke trail in the video does seem oddly dense and “round” rather than the usual thinnish, twin plumes that soon merge into a “flat-looking” light-coloured trail. Does anyone know why it would have looked like that? Simply an artefact of the lighting conditions? Although, [this image](http://www.bahneman.com/liem/tmp/it_was_awe808.png), showing the same flight number 24 hours later, captured on a webcam, looks like pretty conclusive proof to me. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/13 "2010-11-10T19:12:22Z")
“Now that I have your attention, I would like to receive One Million Dollars - what’s that? Oh, yes, One Hundred Billion Dollars to Evil Enterprises. Don’t make me launch another - the next one will be loaded.” What? ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/14 "2010-11-10T21:19:31Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > An unexplained & unidentified ICBM was launched, & filmed, 35 miles off of L.A. > [Mysterious missile off California coast has many puzzled - CSMonitor.com](http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1109/Mysterious-missile-off-California-coast-has-many-puzzled) Where is this film of the ICBM launch? All I found was a video of the contrail, but no launch. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/15 "2010-11-11T19:59:08Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Yeah…and where \*was \*Skald yesterday? Actually, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him. He would have claimed responsibility right away 🙂 Not if it were a TEST. And only if I were sure Aquaman were out of the way, damn his eyes. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/16 "2010-11-13T06:02:26Z")
This [link](http://blog.bahneman.com/content/it-was-us-airways-flight-808) provides a slightly different angle. Looking pretty grim for the missile hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/17 "2010-11-13T06:29:16Z")
I don’t care either way, but it sure looked like a missle launch I saw in the late 80’s from college down there. As I recall, it took the powers-that-be a few days to own up to it back then. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/18 "2010-11-13T06:54:47Z")
What is more frightening, the general public screaming “rogue missile launch” or NORAD not stepping up to tell us what it really was? I’ve yet to hear from any credible source that it appears to be a real missile or rocket launch, but I’ve heard the flood of laypeople conjecturing that it is. As someone on a nuclear sub said about the matter “there is no one button that a person can accidentally press to cause a launch, it’s a multi-person process”. Rogue weapon launches that would produce such visible evidence, would be the biggest deal imaginable for the US military, and hiding it would be the biggest blunder politically. No missile, probably distorted contrails from a plane. Or, that kid I knew from middle school finally followed up on his “triple taco truck burrito fart extravaganza” that he’s been promising for two decades. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/19 "2010-11-13T07:15:38Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > What is more frightening, the general public screaming “rogue missile launch” or NORAD not stepping up to tell us what it really was? > > I’ve yet to hear from any credible source that it appears to be a real missile or rocket launch, but I’ve heard the flood of laypeople conjecturing that it is. > > As someone on a nuclear sub said about the matter “there is no one button that a person can accidentally press to cause a launch, it’s a multi-person process”. > > Rogue weapon launches that would produce such visible evidence, would be the biggest deal imaginable for the US military, and hiding it would be the biggest blunder politically. > > No missile, probably distorted contrails from a plane. Or, that kid I knew from middle school finally followed up on his “triple taco truck burrito fart extravaganza” that he’s been promising for two decades. If it turned out that it was actually a missile launch, it wouldn’t be from a US sub and it wouldn’t be “rogue”. I would be a demonstration from a potential enemy that they can sneak right up to a coastal city and fire with impunity and we wouldn’t be able to defend against it. I’m glad it turned out to be bogus. It it were real, it would trigger a defense spending crisis for Star Wars lasers and zappers along our coasts. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105/20 "2010-11-14T18:53:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If it turned out that it was actually a missile launch, it wouldn’t be from a US sub and it wouldn’t be “rogue”. I would be a demonstration from a potential enemy that they can sneak right up to a coastal city and fire with impunity and we wouldn’t be able to defend against it. > > I’m glad it turned out to be bogus. It it were real, it would trigger a defense spending crisis for Star Wars lasers and zappers along our coasts. It would be an act of war. The launch would have occurred within our territorial waters which have constituted an invasion of our sovereign territory. There would have been a major effort to hunt down the vessel, capture it, or destroy it. And we would have launched other methods (covert and not-so-covert) against the hostile power(s) that it is not in their interests to engage in said behavior again. As for the argument that it was a “secret” launch by our military, it stands to reason that people living in Malibu, Ventura, and Santa Barbara would have seen a vertical plume. But AFAIK, nobody reported any such thing. Note that [launches from Vandenberg AFB can be seen in Phoenix, Arizona](http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbview.htm). Another fatal blow to the missile theory is the length of the raw video: ten minutes (per the _Daily Show_). Having watched dozens of missile launches from Vandenberg AFB, you know the missile’s visibility during the day is less than three minutes (Back in college, I watched Peacekeeper launch late one morning from 50 miles away–it was like a bat out of hell and was gone in less than three minutes) In the military, you want missiles to achieve high accelerations: presume you have a surprise first strike of incoming nuclear warheads. Do you want your missiles to dawdle on take-off? In addition, a missile ambulating for ten minutes while spewing forth contrails is easy pickings for an anti-missile system. We have a set of satellites which are tasked to looking for missile launches: _Satellite Early Warning System_ such as [DSP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSP_satellites)and [SBIR](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBIRS). A rocket throws out an enormous amount of infrared in a very small area. The US military monitors these activities world wide 24-7-365. Hypothetically, if it had been a missile launch and had occurred without detection, the military would be in a panic: How did this happen? Human error? Bad sensors? Or did a hostile power come up with a way to launch a missile that can’t be detected via IR sensors or radar? The latter would be a titanic shift in the strategic balance–we would be effectively blinded with respect any missile launches from said power. _That_ would give our military and political leaders a lot of sleepless nights. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-no-one-on-the-sdmb-hear-about-the-mystery-icbm-launch-off-l-a-newslink/560105.md?page=2)