How is a ballon gathering more than a satellite?
From a satellite they can take a picture of a license plate. The same equipment on a balloon at lower altitude can take a close up picture of an ant.
Same way you see more of the game from the 50 yard line than up in the nosebleed seats
Plus, if they’re sniffing radio frequencies, the signal weakens with the square of the distance, so at 60,000 ft they can pick up stuff that would be lost in the noise at satellite altitude.
The balloon is about 12 miles up. A satellite is up about 100 miles.
Travels slower
satellites cannot take air samples. Countries use balloons to sample air flowing from nuke sites in Eastern Europe and Iran to see what kind of isotopes are present and in what concentrations, for example. And at lower altitudes, you can also get better sideviews, if you are carrying cameras.
It COULD have been a Dry Run: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dry-run-balloons-called-top-delivery-platform-for-nuclear-emp-attack/ar-AA174OkJ?fbclid=IwAR3ckKyxkx2eC8zURWyqujnXrqf6qX4mSq5ukqXX7sNpl43NLfTX0fBOWG8