"Independence Day vibes": Green Lasers over Hawaii sparks wave of memes and concern 

On the night of the Chinese spy balloon being detected in the United States, a camera watching the night observed green laser beams atop a Hawaiian mountain. It has since been revealed that the source of the lights was most likely a Chinese satellite. Internet users have created hilarious memes since the findings came into being.

The green lasers were found by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan on January 28 around 7 am ET. Initially, the NAOJ believed that the lights that resembled the green code from The Matrix were from NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite, which measures climate change on the Earth’s surface.

However, on February 6, NASA confirmed that green lasers were not being emitted by them. Dr. Anthony Martino, a NASA scientist working on the ICESAT-2 mission, revealed that the lights were “not by their instrument but by others.”

He revealed that his colleague Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff et al., was doing a “simulation of the trajectory of satellites that have a similar instrument and found a most likely candidate as the ACDL instrument by the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite.”

According to a 2021 press release by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Chinese satellite was launched last year to track the sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide.

It was also revealed that China plans to develop more Daqi satellites for environmental observation.

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Netizens react to the green lasers seen in Hawaii

Internet users have been weary of strange objects being found in the sky like the Chinese spy balloon. Similar to concerns about the same, many wondered why the United States had not taken any action on the green lasers. Others also found the matter hilarious and created hilarious memes.

Several netizens found the lights cartoon-ish as the matter at hand seemed unimaginable. Many could not believe that there were random green lasers seen in the sky, similar to what can be seen in animated television shows. A few hysterical reactions read:

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What happened to the Chinese spy balloon?

On February 4, the United States shot down the Chinese balloon located off the coast of South Carolina that was suspected of spying. It was targeted with a missile shot from an F-22 fighter jet plane.

The action was taken in collaboration with the Canadian government. In a written statement, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said:

“The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters. We thank Canada for its contribution to tracking and analysis of the balloon.”

To protect against the risks of the Chinese spy balloon collecting sensitive information while being shot down, U.S. officials took steps to examine Chinese equipment.

Chinese officials claimed that the balloon was a runaway weather balloon. However, US officials believed otherwise. They claimed that the balloon was a “PRC surveillance balloon.” In response to the shootdown, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attack on the balloon was an “obvious overreaction.”