China balloon & Airship Development

escobar said:

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If the payload is connected to the balloon with cables, would propellers even functionally work? It's not a rigid body, and I imagine the panels would just swing around.

If they are in the picture they aren't ducted or protected in anyway, so wouldn't there be a risk they could get tangled into the cable and severe it?

If it was a "research" balloon, would propellers be there for measurements?

I think overall this whole saga opens up interesting scenario for China. Due to the low cost to operate those balloons China can probably maintain a line of them across the entire Pacific and it will cost disporportional amount of resources for the US to shoot them all down. Essentially a cheaper and less survivable satellite.

Long article at TWZ:

Maikeru said:

Long article at TWZ:

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Is it really China or is it SDF again?

Balloon diplomacy will replace panda diplomacy. Whoever catches the balloon will earn a trip to China.

I mean, even from that article itself China was trolling with the balloons long before the current incident.

US carriers will have no chance against balloon launched HGVs.

Sino-Shahed balloons? Unlimited range, 3000 km range from firing point with gliding, 20k cost. launch 10k of these on a route, self location and target identification requires only knowing self coordinates and fixed coordinates, firing triggered by satellite or auto...

escobar said:

The second chinese balloon spotted over Latin America recently went down in the ocean to the east of the continent

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1624103287917101056

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China quietly destroyed a high-flying spy balloon last month over the Atlantic Ocean in waters off South America, somehow downing an airship previously spotted over Costa Rica at about the same time a platform that appeared identical was transiting the United States last month, according to senior military officials.

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This development adds an intriguing postscript to the Chinese spy-balloon saga -- implying Beijing potentially had the ability to activate a self-destruct mechanism

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Impressive OSINT