The last time this got a lot of publicity in the 80s, it was cover for tomahawk missile testing.
The other possibility is some nut job in the administration has a pet project.
The other possibility is some nut job in the administration has a pet project.
This reminds me of something I saw that I never really talked about. Maybe about 7 years ago, I was out bicycling at around 10pm at night outside of Socorro NM (a small desert college town), and to the west I saw a light appear from behind some mountains steadily heading up and north in a slightly curved path. I thought it was a plane or a helicopter until it suddenly disappeared after about 30 seconds. I assumed it turned off its lights or that I somehow misunderstood what I saw, but a minute later, a new light appeared from the same original spot, followed the path again, and disappeared. This sequence repeated maybe ten times. I assume it was some kind of missile test that I saw. The White Sands Missile Range was 10+ miles to the southeast (the wrong direction), though I think I remember there also being other explosive testing ranges nearby to the west. I would love to know what exactly I saw, though I never knew how to go about finding that out even if the information was published somewhere.
The town was surrounded by various explosives testing ranges. Occasionally everyone would hear the loud thump of a bomb being test during the day. Mythbusters was known for using some bomb range nearby. I'm pretty confident it was some kind of military or scientific test I saw, I'm just mainly curious about the specifics.
Some atmospheric phenomenon that I don’t recall made it appear much closer than it actually was. (He was intrigued enough to talk to a friend who was an atmospheric science professor) In his case the repetition was the chopper flying box patterns to search.