Balloon Hysteria (1 Viewer)

[Steve R.]

This morning Fox News has had an endless tirade of chest-thumbing bravado over a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Shoot it down they all scream in unison. Considering that every country spies and considering the existence of spy satellites, the hyperbolic hysteria by Fox News over the balloon seems both excessive and laughable. The response, launch our own high altitude balloon and let it drift over China. Put a huge smiley face on the side of the balloon.

U.S. Military Monitoring Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon

The U.S. military is currently monitoring a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been hovering for several days over the northern U.S.

www.breitbart.com

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Breaking news:

Blinken postpones trip to China after spy balloon detected in U.S. -reports

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his visit to China after a spy balloon was detected flying over the continental United States, according to media reports on Friday.

www.reuters.com

Canceling the trip to China seems a bit cowardly.

 

[JonXL]

Also heard shooting down would be problematic given danger of debris. What goes up must come down.

TV commentators don't always think too many steps ahead...

 

[Steve R.]

Also heard shooting down would be problematic given danger of debris. What goes up must come down.

TV commentators don't always think too many steps ahead...

That was one of the laughable comments by the media idiots tossing out all sorts of preposterous "dangers".
Montana has a lot of open space and a low population density. I also suspect that the payload is compact and its descent would be somewhat somewhat slowed should the balloon be deflated, implying that a huge debris field would not be expected.

 

[NauticalGent]

Having been somewhat affiliated with the surveillance community - this whole thing has a bad smell to it. Historically, when we catch the "bad guys" misbehaving in the sand-box, the GP never hears about it.

Makes me wonder what dog this tail is wagging...

 

[AccessBlaster]

it was said grandpa wanted to "shoot it down" but general Milley said no. I guess Milley is still running the show.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Since they're both in the pay of the ChiComs, I'm not sure why they would argue about this. Neither would want to shoot it down

 

[AccessBlaster]

I would at the very least be curious about the "tech" on board, but they have their orders to allow these spy vehicles safe passage

 

[JonXL]

That was one of the laughable comments by the media idiots tossing out all sorts of preposterous "dangers".
Montana has a lot of open space and a low population density. I also suspect that the payload is compact and its descent would be somewhat somewhat slowed should the balloon be deflated, implying that a huge debris field would not be expected.

So? Still no guarantee it won't hit someone...

 

[Steve R.]

So? Still no guarantee it won't hit someone...

True. Nevertheless we willing accept many activities that can result in death, such as using airplanes as a form of transportation where they can potentially fall out of the sky killing many. In life their can be no guarantees.

 

[JonXL]

True. Nevertheless we willing accept many activities that can result in death, such as using airplanes as a form of transportation where they can potentially fall out of the sky killing many. In life their can be no guarantees.

I don't think folks typically consider "living in the middle of nowhere" as one of those activities that may result in death by Chinese spy balloon debris...

 

[Steve R.]

You have made a statement that is overtly true on the surface but requires context. The probability of someone "living in the middle of nowhere" getting killed by falling Chinese spy balloon debris is so low, it would be indistinguishable from zero percent. (0%). Sapce debris has been falling for years and there are many larger urban areas with millions of people. Have you heard of anyone being killed from falling space debris?

 

[Pat Hartman]

The further east it gets, the higher the probability debris will kill someone if we end up taking it down.

 

[AccessBlaster]

 

[Steve R.]

Our nightmare of impending doom is over. Fearless leader Biden to the rescue!
I wonder if he personally flew the plane that shot-down the balloon.

Biden says he authorized Pentagon days ago to shoot down Chinese spy balloon

President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon on Wednesday but that they waited due to safety concerns.

www.foxnews.com

I will assume that the balloon's payload had a self-destruct package to reduce the contents to slag. If so it wasn't a weather balloon.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I remember when my brothers were young and helium balloons became popular. One of the boys got one for his birthday and apparently took it upstairs when he went to bed. I came home from a date late that night and climbed up the stairs with my eyes half closed because I was tired and walked into the balloon hanging at head height in the hall and almost had a heart attack

 

[Steve R.]

Here is where US is taking remains of China spy flight

The FBI is preparing to analyze remains of the China spy flight that was shot down over the weekend at a lab in Quantico, Virginia, senior U.S. government sources say.

www.foxnews.com

What remains? It appears that the surveillance package was blown-up by a US missile. If the US had really wanted an opportunity of inspecting the surveillance (weather ) package, the better approach would seem to be puncturing the balloon itself to leave the package undamaged, at least until it hits the ground (water). Seems that this (useless) investigation is simply for show. (That approach may not work since it would be expected that the surveillance package would contain a self-destruct capability.)
Disclaimer: This post is pure speculation on my part, I have no innate knowledge concerning either the balloon, the F-22 fighter jet, and/or the reasons for why the events transpired the way they did.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I watched a youtube video where the author explained how it would be possible to bring it down in a controlled manner.

The authors explained the balloons are usually filled with a small amount of helium (not full), just enough to reach a certain height in the atmosphere where the pressure within the balloon begins to expand causing the balloon to rise even higher. At some point, the balloon reaches the maximum expansion and quits rising,

The author theorized a well-placed bullet or two near the base of the balloon would cause a slow pressure drop allowing the balloon to descend to a certain height where it would again stabilize and need to be shot again. The process would be repeated until it was brought down.

 

[Steve R.]

The author theorized a well-placed bullet or two near the base of the balloon would cause a slow pressure drop allowing the balloon to descend to a certain height where it would again stabilize and need to be shot again. The process would be repeated until it was brought down.

Two problems with the author's theory.

• Once the balloon is punctured it will continue to lose its buoyancy gas (Helium or Hydrogen), so it will continue to descend without stopping. No additional shots would be needed, unless there is a self-sealing capability.
• As the balloon descends, the air pressure exterior to the balloon will increase. I speculate (based on no research) that the air pressure will "squeeze" the balloon into a smaller configuration, possibly accelerating the loss of buoyancy thereby increasing the rate of descent.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I'm guessing a shot near the bottom of the balloon "might" allow the Helium to remain in the two-thirds above the puncture.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

They used a Sidewinder missile on the bag. They said that bullets would have worked but had too short a range and thus would require the pilot to be too close to the balloon for safety. Long-range video showed that the payload dropped intact initially but broke apart due to stresses of a non-aerodynamic object falling through air.