Spokesman John Kirby said the unmanned object was "the size of a small car" and was over a sparsely populated area at the time. He said the object had fallen into US waters that are currently frozen, adding that its debris field was "much, much smaller" than the balloon shot down last week off the coast of South Carolina. Mr Kirby said the object did not appear to have the manoeuvrable capability like the Chinese balloon and seemed to be "virtually at the whim of the wind"