Local Date
25 December 2024Local Time
10:22Location
Gainesville, FloridaCountry or Territory
United StatesName
Automatic Ground Station 3 FloridaSatellite
NOAA-19Archive ID
"What is this obsession with 'manned' or 'unmanned'?!" jokes Bowen Yang, playing 'A Drone' on Saturday Night Live. "For the record" Bowen continues "I can get a man whenever I want!". The skit plays on political divisions haunting thousands if not millions of American Christmas Eve dinners this year. I had not heard about the reported drone sightings prior to arriving in Florida, but they have been raised by local family members at every opportunity. "What is the government really doing?" "Remember the media explosion about that one Chinese balloon?! Now there are hundreds of drones and no one is talking about it!" Or, "I just worry about what could happen in New York on New Years Eve". Earlier in the week, when Steve and I set up the turnstile antenna on the roof of my Mom's house, a family member walked over and asked if we could listen to the drones. I decided to preserve a bit of mystery: "this is for satellites, but both satellites and drones communicate via radio waves".