'Suspicious' Boxes In NJ Spark Bomb Scare: It's Just NASA

Those white boxes attached to red parachutes, with a note pasted to the side, falling from the sky – should you be worried about them?

Apparently not, says South Brunswick police. But they did cause a local bomb scare. And they still could fall on your community. Precautions were even taken this past weekend because President Trump was in New Jersey.

The package was ultimately determined to be a weather monitoring device, police said. Investigators determined the item was one of six released on Sunday from the New Brunswick area by NASA scientist.

These devices will come down after a period of time at random locations, police said.

One of them was discovered on Tuesday at approximately 11:53 a.m., when police were dispatched to a solar panel field at 147 New Rd. in South Brunswick for a "suspicious" white package attached to a parachute that had dropped down from the sky.

Employees from the solar panel field told police that the package was making a hissing sound and there was a handwritten note attached to it that "made mention of the president," police said.

The note, according to NBC4 New York, actually said this:

"NASA Atmospheric Research Instrument NOT A BOMB! If found, please call (redacted). If this lands near the President, we at NASA wish him a great round of golf."

It was the second package that had been located in New Jersey on Tuesday and, because of the president being at his Bedminster country club, extra precautions were taken, police said.

Several agencies including the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Police Bomb Unit, Kendall Park Fire Department and federal authorities worked to resolve the situation, police said.

The weather researchers were apologetic for any concerns they had raised by the handwritten note on the device, police said. There are no charges related to the incident.

The box "contained a weather balloon instrument that measures ozone," NASA told News4 New York. The parachute launched from a Rutgers University-owned site as part of a "Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study."

The student who appended the note was removed from the project, NASA told NBC4.

Photo courtesy of NBC4 New York