So what is China really doing with this balloon thing anyway?

[Takket]

Is this just psychological warfare? Some way for making Biden look "weak" or trying to spark discord in Washington?

Don't tell me they sent those balloons up there to actually gather intelligence because I'm sure China already has surveillance satellites in orbit with spy technologies that make the balloons look like a joke. It's like showing up a NASCAR race riding a donkey. You'll get everyone's attention and make headlines but you won't actually win.

[Irish_Dem]

1. We don't know the truth yet.

All very odd.

[NoRethugFriends]

2. The Truth is Out There

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yep. Sometimes life is like an X files episode.

[jmowreader]

4. You didn't want to be told but I will anyway

The lower an intelligence platform is to the ground, the better resolution you are going to get out of it. If the sensors on this balloon are any good, they'll give better coverage of, say, an Air Force base than a satellite will - because they're sitting 66,000 feet above the ground rather than 180 miles above it. The US has a very fine constellation of photoreconnaissance satellites, but we also fly U-2/TR-1 aircraft, Global Hawks and Predator drones because airbreathers are lower to the ground than satellites are.

[WarGamer]

5. The most ridiculous news story in years... My God.

[underpants]

9. I can't believe I'm not seeing Balloon Boy jokes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax

[WarGamer]

11. hahahaha

[GoCubsGo]

6. It's possible they don't have as many spy satellites as we think.

With the pandemic and other issues, it's not out of the question that their older satellites went out of commission, and they have been unable to launch replacements. From what I have been hearing, China is on verge of economic collapse. Their economy is in terrible shape, thanks to a shrinking population, a burst real estate bubble, and due to foreign manufacturers moving back home, or to places like Vietnam and India. They're trying to stay afloat, and building new spy satellites probably low on the their list of things to spend capital on.

I doubt this is to make Biden look weak, as they have launched others elsewhere. There's one over South America right now. It's also far from the first one they've sent over here. Maybe once they retrieve the one they shot down, we might get an answer as to why they sent it here.

[dalton99a]

8. Or the quality of their satellite-based optics is not so good

China is still behind Japan, the U.S. and Europe in advanced optics

[Torchlight]

7. Low risk, low cost, low yield assets can often bring intelligence.

I'd guess that as risk/benefit analyses go, it's cheap but ineffective, though even pedestrian efforts sometimes being reward.

[LunaSea]

10. The antenna array on the gondola

suggests signals collection. As another poster pointed out, the closer the collector is to the source, the stronger the signals. Lots cheaper than a satellite construction and launch.

[sarisataka]

12. I find it interesting

That the Chinese balloon reaction is basically meh- so what. Even though it is a violation of US airspace.

But many of the same people lost their minds when the Russian plane flew around the US, allowed per the Open Skies Treaty. I believe it was called treason to allow those flights.

[Jarqui]

13. I thought they were just delivering some Trump ties

&ab_channel=PeoplesCringe

[fightforfreedom]

14. It's their new advanced spy satellite.

[pwb]

16. What if it was a fentanyl bomb?

Thanks Joe for waiting.

[Disaffected]

17. Err, maybe doing weather

data gathering?? I've seen no compelling reason to think the things are simply anything other than drifting in the wind like, you know, a weather balloon.