quote:

Originally posted by Carpentermaass84:
Xi never would have attempted this .....

This guy is back?

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Aside from the intrusion into US air space being an issue, what have the experts speculated could be gained from this that could not be gained from the hundreds of satellites orbiting over us each day?

As posted earlier, the camera resolution is many times better from balloon height than from satellite height.

Good point. I'll also add that I think people are taking the word camera way too literal. Think multispectral focal array devices.

I'm in oil & gas, and we've had several defense vendors come talk to us about drone technology that is being allowed for civilian use. These imiging devices used to be on fighter planes, military satellites, military drones, etc. It's not just a taking pictures/video, it's the use of FLIR, the use of thermal, the use of LIDAR, imaging technologies that can detect itty bitty gas leaks, imaging technologies that can detect metal below the surface, etc.

For example, in Alaska polar bear den in a snow drift (i.e. not the same spot every year) and it's where mama bear and its babies live until spring. No oil & gas projects can occur within 1 mile of a polar bear den. We thought we were state of the art flying FLIR looking for polar bear den to avoid, and having our security outfitted with handheld FLIR in hopes we spotted a hungry bear before it got onto our project site. Lockheed Martin comes talk to us about what their drone can do, shows us multiple imaging options, and then asks if we want to see a polar bear example. White polar bear walking on white snow which isn't visible with normal state of the art optical camera, and all of the sudden the drone's targeting box automatically appears on it and begins automatically tracking the bear. One of the other spectrum picked up the bear. It was military technology and the only thing missing was cross hairs.

This is just the technology that's be released for civilian application so imagine what the classified multispectral focal array devices can do. This is likely why the Chinese wanted to get their balloon above the US but much lower than satellite height.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Cell and WiFi data, both civilian and military, possibly could've been gobbled up as well.

You'd need a lot of power in order to collect and process that. Not sure '4-school buses' sized solar panels and batteries, are going to be enough...could be wrong but, they'd have too be robust to survive flying around along the jet stream, in the winter time. I believe the payload that balloon was lugging around was estimated at 4-tons....half of that weight is the likely frame/structure and solar panels. Collecting data is one thing, transmitting is another....haven't heard anything regarding any arrays/antenaes to uplink to a satellite, probably there but, no pics.

quote:

Some loose, unconfirmed chatter about people's cell phones acting weird where the balloon flew over.

IF TRUE...I would wager electronic warfare jamming transmissions or, simple speculation gone wild.

It's pretty safe to assume they aren't processing whatever they were doing on the ship. There wouldn't be a lot of need for compute or storage. I would have to imagine it's just uplinked to a satellite to be relayed back to mainland. Only storage would be needed if there was blackouts from satellite coverage or if bitrate for uplink wasn't fast enough to relay in realtime. Either way I'm pretty sure they aren't storing/studying whatever they collected in those school buses. My guess is a bunch of batteries, helium, fans, solar, framing, and rigging plus some surveillance equipment and transmitters.

If I had to guess they are collecting terrestrial signals like cellular, radio, satellite, or some other low wattage signals that they need to be closer to the source to scoop up and can't be done from orbit.

ETA Saw tator's post after mine I assume there are a number of multispectral imaging applications that would benefit from proximity that a satellite can't provide or that have yet to be deployed to a satellite so a balloon can get it now instead of three years from now.

I imagine manufacturing and launching balloon based spy tech is much cheaper that satellite based spy tech even in China.

I’ve also been wondering about the bus size comparison. Would these be the normal size buses we rode, or the shorter ones folks in the Biden administration would likely be familiar with?

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Collecting data is one thing, transmitting is another....haven't heard anything regarding any arrays/antenaes to uplink to a satellite.

All seemingly true, yet it was being maneuvered around somehow, yes? Presumably the Chinese were sending and receiving signals to/from it.

We'll see what the navy salvage guys pull-up.
Maneuvering could very likely be pre-programed route finding...has there been any comment on how? propellers, thrusters of some sort, paddles ?

There is some (I think unconfirmed as yet) buzz that the payload was equipped with propellers on the ends.

This is CNN

Those things on the ends look propellery, what do you think?

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Originally posted by kkina:
There is some (I think unconfirmed as yet) buzz that the payload was equipped with propellers on the ends.

This is CNN

Those things on the ends look propellery, what do you think?

[IMG][/IMG]

Based on that article Biden is pretty much a rockstar and his administration is really on top of things.

After reading I feel proud to be an American except the whole misogynistic, patriarchal, nationalistic, anti-trans fabric woven into our country's founding.

CNN is my main news source for everything.

^I was only looking for propeller information, not the rest of the article.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
^I was only looking for propeller information, not the rest of the article.

I'm not calling you out, I'm over here laughing my ass off on the spin. It's absolutely amazing, so obviously crafted. Just right out there in plain sight.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

Based on that article Biden is pretty much a rockstar and his administration is really on top of things.

After reading I feel proud to be an American except the whole misogynistic, patriarchal, nationalistic, anti-trans fabric woven into our country's founding.

CNN is my main news source for everything.

You forgot the systemic racism…

quote:

You forgot the systemic racism…

How the f$@& did I drop the ball on the most important part? Did I not learn a damn thing from the 1619 project?

Jim Acosta and Leon Panetta speaking on CNN about Biden's handling of the balloon.
Interesting because both normally don't speak out against Biden, especially on CNN.
Their only defense of his actions was to throw the military under the bus, claiming they withheld info from the President. Are the knives out for General Milley in the Democrat party?
The best parts start around 50 seconds in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2qF3bULqAI

Audio of the F-22 callsign "Frank01" engaging the errant airship...

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
CW Lemoine “Mover” flew USAF F16’s then Navy F18’s, I’ve been a subscriber for several years. Man knows what he talks about.



.

Came here to post this, think this was a great video of the event and even why they didn’t engage right away.

Did Chinese spy balloons fly near the US during the Trump administration, and General Milley deliberately withheld that information from the White House? Could he have really done that? That's extremely disconcerting if true.

Xi is all upset we shot it down.
Good. The next ones need to be popped as soon as they enter coastal waters

Even SNL is mocking Biden.

Article from The Wall Street Journal. The full linked article mentions the Canadian effort to shoot down an “out-of-control” weather balloon in which more than 1000 rounds were fired at it, and it took six days for it to fall to the ground.

=========================

F-22 Jet, Missile Were Used to Strike Balloon
BY DOUG CAMERON AND MICHAEL R. GORDON

Pentagon officials faced a difficult task in bringing down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying at high altitude and without endangering lives and property on the ground. They turned to the Air Force’s most advanced jet fighter and a well-tested missile to do it.

To complete the mission, defense officials had to shoot down a craft that had been flying as high as 65,000 feet on its weeklong traverse of North America, above the ceiling of most Air Force jets, and do it so that the debris would fall within the U.S. territorial waters off the coast, not international seas.

Videos widely shown on local television and social media show what the Pentagon identified as two F-22 Raptor jets— which can operate above 50,000 feet—circling the balloon. One then fired what the Pentagon said was an AIM9-X Sidewinder missile that punctured the canopy of the airship at 58,000 feet above the skies off Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Saturday.

The fighter took the shot soon after the balloon crossed the coast, providing a margin for the debris to fall with prevailing winds, landing 6 miles offshore, within the 12-mile limit of U.S. territorial waters, the Pentagon said.

High-end surveillance balloons and their payloads can be brought back with the use of onboard parachutes, said industry experts. These are triggered by remote operators. The shootdown of the relatively slow-moving target left the debris spread across 7 miles of shallow water, a Pentagon official said on Saturday.

The takedown was the first “kill” for the F-22, the Air Force’s premier air-to-air fighter, and the first time a U.S. warplane has destroyed a target by firing from such a high altitude, the Air Force said.

The F-22s took off from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and used the call signs “Frank 01” and “Frank 02,” a spokesman for U.S. Northern Command said. That was a nod to Frank Luke Jr., the U.S. ace who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down numerous German observation balloons during World War I. {Emphasis added}

And ahem :

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Frank Luke, is that you?

LINK

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Originally posted by SigSauerP226:
Came here to post this, think this was a great video of the event and even why they didn’t engage right away.

Worth a watch. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Did Chinese spy balloons fly near the US during the Trump administration, and General Milley deliberately withheld that information from the White House? Could he have really done that? That's extremely disconcerting if true.

Absolutely, how ever we also know he admitted to saying he was prepared to call China and give them warning ahead of any adverse moves against China by Trump. He is still serving in his position ahead of the pentagon!