At the beginning of February, US intelligence services identified a Chinese surveillance balloon, followed by a series of unidentified flying objects, which were all subsequently shot down in the airspace over North America. 

When asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for the airborn objects, General Glen VanHerck said "I haven't ruled out anything", leading to speculation about their potential otherworldly nature. 

Episode nine of Jumping Off Points takes a brief look at the UK’s defence capabilities in light of China’s surveillance attempts, before diving into the world of alien conspiracy theories, including crop circles, abductions, and flying spacecraft.