The forehead slapping obvious part is - who the ding dong hell is going spy from an untethered balloon with zero control over its route?! China has almost 50 satellites in orbit, every one of them capable of spying. Has anyone noticed that neither the US or any other country uses spy BALLOONS? Gee, I wonder why? With agriculture crucial to China feeding a billion and a half souls, maybe keeping track of subtle high altitude humidity, ion content and static charge on air particles could be considered a rational means of predicting crop destroying weather events, particularly in mid winter.
People gotta stop thinking in 3 color, 3 finger cartoons.
But I believe this one was maneuverable. And couldn't they contract with American and other weather-monitoring companies to acquire this information? If we'd halt their purchase of US farmland, especially near military stations, they wouldn't need to be so acre-specific ...
Actually, we and the IAEA reportedly use balloons to spy... collect air samples to test for radioactive isotopes blowing from, say, Iranian sites.
Actually, we and the IAEA reportedly use balloons to spy... collect air samples to test for radioactive isotopes blowing from, say, Iranian sites.
Mr. Obvious needs remedial math...start with the fact that radio signals, i.e. all the interesting stuff, diminish with the square of the distance.
They use balloons because they can see and hear much more and because they can hover and stare. Same reason Peeping Toms get right up close rather than watching thru a telephoto lens.
“ The forehead slapping obvious part is - who the ding dong hell is going spy from an untethered balloon with zero control over its route?! China has almost 50 satellites in orbit, every one of them capable of spying. Has anyone noticed that neither the US or any other country uses spy BALLOONS?…”
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I wouldn’t so quickly rule out nations not using surveillance and “spy” balloons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqBXwLDwZ0
Surely you meant your "forehead-sloping obvious part". LOFL.
You cannot do comprehensive ground-radar penetration overhead from a low-earth orbit [LEO], even if you are at an angle. But you sure as shit can do it from 60,000 feet, and map which Minuteman silos are full and which are empty.
In an effort to expand the color palette you mention consider this; everyone seems sold on the fact that the only function for this balloon was gathering data of some sort or other. Either gathering weather data (seemingly harmless) or intelligence data regarding our military capabilities. What if they weren’t looking to collect something but experimenting with DELIVERING something. Had that balloon been carrying a biological weapon or a nuclear device once it crossed into our airspace it was successful whether we shot it down and released its payload or the ChiComs pushed the button. There’s just as good a chance that this balloon (or the next one) was a giver as opposed to a taker.