Entire story reeks of disinformation from both sides:
1. There is nothing the Chinese would get from a balloon that they couldn’t already get from satellite.
2. It was detected so early and tracked for so long, we had DAYS to move anything they might have accidently discovered.
3.Technically, they had no reason to send a “spy balloon over the US.
4. So, it was a propaganda effort.
From our side:
5. They had ample opportunity to shoot it down over the open plains of Montana and South Dakota.
6. They waited to shoot it down over water. So no farmers or hunters could see what was actually in it.
It is all for show.
Not true. Low earth surveillance does lots of things that satellites cannot ever do. For instance, mapping cell and wi-fI footprints, and scooping their data. Since Global Strike (Minuteman III) personnel communicate using various devices that use high frequency, they cannot be intercepted from space.
There is a reason why our military has C-130 EW, and P-8 aircraft that can loiter off the coast of hostile nations - because satellites are mostly for observing infrastructure - whereas low earth platforms are for surveillance of people and their communications.
The Chinese Spy airship wasn’t for taking pictures, it was for signal intelligence.