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What can be done with a balloon that a satellite cannot?
by bigmattystyles 4y ago
What can be done with a balloon that a satellite cannot?
- HL33tibCe7 4y agoProvocation
- jrexilius 4y agoVerify operations when space becomes a denied environment due to debris field... (edit to add: i.e. field test planned comms and sensors platforms for use in future conflict scenarios)
- CyanLite4 4y agoProbably some sensors to see what we’re doing with our nuke bases in Montana.
- ajross 4y agoOr an airplane, or a drone flown out of a parking lot nearby, or frankly even a google maps photo. I agree, the threat here seems sorta vague and silly. Aerial reconnaissance over industrialized democracies is a pretty wide open threat model. If we have stuff sitting out in the back yards we should throw a tarp on it or something.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 4y agonot be obscured by clouds
- willis936 4y agoClouds are much lower altitude than this balloon.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 4y agoYes, this high altitude balloon is above the clouds. I was answering what can be done with a balloon.
- mabbo 4y agoSome ideas, brainstorming here... Tracking: satellites are incredibly easy to track once you know their orbital parameters. A balloon, far less so. You need a lot of active tracking. Altitude: a balloon is much closer to the ground than a satellite. That allows a much smaller camera to take the same picture. It also could give you access to radio signals that might not be as easily monitored from space. Harder to spot: being closer to the ground, it will be beyond the horizon until it's much closer. And of course it's far, far cheaper. The Chinese space program is doing well, but it's still very expensive to build and launch satellites. There are of course numerous downsides.
- smalley 4y agoAdditionally Measure Response: Determine what an adversary nation does in response to the violation (what resources are scrambled, where do they come from etc) Messaging: All the permutations of two sets of government folks trying to send a message the pair mutually understand re: defense etc Tie up resources: Low cost provocation may divert higher cost resources and tie them up for a longer period of time since its a dwelling threat Acquire signal information: Use sensors and measurement systems outside of the threat to measure the locations and signatures of tracking systems deployed to assess and monitor the threat Deploy lightweight physical payloads: dust something of interest over an area etc
- floxy 4y agoI wonder what kinds of capabilities you could have in a $25,000 mass produced balloon. 100,000 of those would only cost $2.5 billion. It seems like that would be a pretty overwhelming problem to deal with if your job was to suddenly get rid of 100,000 balloons.
- flir 4y agoI've played that game. You need monkeys with darts.
- walrus01 4y agoA sufficiently large balloon with enough payload capacity (and some method of data link back to its operators) would probably be more useful for SIGINT and rf spectrum data gathering, assuming it has directional antennas aimed at whatever is directly underneath it. Same capability in a LEO satellite weighing 500kg+ might be very costly to launch.
- scotteric 4y agoOptically, you are limited by angular resolution, so less distance means better resolution on the ground.
- analog31 4y agoAliExpress delivery drone. I'm expecting my $2 ESP32 boards any time now.
- xeromal 4y agoProbably costs a few order of magnitudes less.