Chinese spy balloon flying across the country

https://abc7.com/chinese-spy-balloon-china-surveillance/12763290/
 

The balloon is described as the size of three buses

Edited by cpunoob, 02 February 2023 - 07:39 PM.

Not a "spy" balloon.  It's a high altitude balloon with a science payload.  I've worked on a team that used to design these with NSA funded research after the demise of the SSC.  It's a cheap and easy way to do research without the expense of building purpose built facilities or satellites: particle physics, atmospheric physics (like climate and meteorology) and chemistry.  That report is just scare mongering and click baiting from credulous and largely ignorant journalists, especially when it comes to science. We're heading back into a new Cold War, this time with China as well as Russia.  Don't fall for the BS.  There's plenty to be concerned about, but science balloons aren't one of them.  It may very well be Chinese in origin drifting in on the jet stream, but it's utterly benign otherwise.

toilet paper now!!!

 

A massive spy balloon believed to be from China

In other words, we dont know where it came from but lets blame China anyway.

 

President Joe Biden ultimately deciding against "military options" because of the risk to civilians,

Thats right I agree with him, You cant just shoot at stuff without knowing where the bits will crash.

It wouldn't be the first time the US has scrambled jets to shoot down balloons.
 

This song is about a true incident in Germany where fighter jets were scrambled to invistigate an 'unusual' radar return that turned out to be party balloons.

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky

Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
The 99 red balloons go by

Edited by Nukecad, 03 February 2023 - 03:32 AM.

Yes was a spy balloon at least my news says it was : https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/norad-tracking-high-altitude-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-the-u-s-canada-says-1.6258279

LOL The Chinese without a doubt have numerous spy satellites orbiting the U.S, not to mention the Russians and others as well - Chinese resorting to weather balloons for spying is just media or political hype.  When it comes to tech, China is often in the forefront - relying on crude weather balloons for spying seems silly.

There are probably many Chinese spy agents active on U.S. soil doing espionage for China.

Edited by 0lds0d, 03 February 2023 - 03:48 PM.

 

Yes was a spy balloon at least my news says it was

Yes but that same TV station also said Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons and look how that turned out.

I've no doubt someone (probably CIA) is frantically trying to get a modified Fulton Recovery System fitted to an high altitude aircraft to capture the payload.

Fulton was the system where a person or equipment on the ground was tethered to a balloon and an aircraft then snagged the wire and yanked them up and onto the aircraft.

It would be a bit trickier with an untethered balloon but should be doable.

As Fulton recovery was abandoned in the late 1990's, and was used at much lower altitude, they are probably having to start almost from scratch.

Probably too late for this balloon, but there may be others.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-tracked-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-over-canadian-airspace-since-last-weekend-sources-1.6259770

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/chinese-balloon-soars-across-u-s-blinken-scraps-beijing-trip-1.6258792

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/second-chinese-spy-balloon-over-latin-america_n_63ddb704e4b01a4363948316

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/05/u-s-militarys-newest-weapon-against-china-and-russia-hot-air-00043860

Tit for tat maybe?

Just shoot it down as target practice and call it a day.

Edited by 0lds0d, 04 February 2023 - 05:03 AM.

I wonder how many took the advice of Fredo...aka..,Trump Jr. and fired their rifles at the balloon. That advice

is right up there with his dad's suggestion of using nukes to eliminate hurricanes.

Well...at least he didn't suggest injecting the balloon with bleach...he has that going for him.

Edited by NickAu, 04 February 2023 - 11:00 PM.

Globophobia is an extreme, overwhelming and irrational fear of balloons.