This is not an alien invasion, but it could be……

DARPA Network Challenge balloons are ready
In celebration of the Internet’s 40th anniversary, DARPA has initiated the DARPA NEtwork Challenge. All we gotta do is find these 10 red balloons – the catch is that they could be anywhere in the continental US. Our secret weapon is the internet and our ability to communicate and coordinate. One of our Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon (ARHAB) groups has registered a team, and is actively soliciting your reports. Find out more details about the Balloonatics via Bill Brown’s website
http://www.wb8elk.com
. You can submit a report to the Balloonatics group by sending your report to redballoonchallenge@gmail.com … (of course you need to include Longitude and Latitude, and a photo if possible).
More links :
http://twitter.com/DARPA_News
http://redballoon.wikispaces.com/Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Balloonatics/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GPSL/
http://www.superlaunch.org/
Thanks /;^)



And the winner is :
The MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team
See the balloon locations on the main site :
https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/default.aspx
Read about the winner :
https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/darpanetworkchallengewinner2009.pdf
Hopefully, there will be some details …
Congratulations – It was surely not easy.
/;^)
Additional interesting perspective from Alan Boyle (MSNBC CosmicLog Blog):
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/01/2139419.aspx
/;^)