3 ms·

There was mention by the Chinese that is had some motive power of its own, or at least strongly implied when their PR said some the thing like “limited maneuver

There was mention by the Chinese that is had some motive power of its own, or at least strongly implied when their PR said some the thing like “limited maneuvering capability”. That seems to indicate that it had some. It would a bit surprising if a payload the size of 2-3 school buses wasn’t outfitted with a reasonable amount of controllability, at least some control surfaces even if they inexplicably excluded even minimal and limited propulsion.

NegativeLatency 4y ago
Probably ballast control to select favorable winds at different altitudes A reserve of buoyant gas and/or some weights to drop
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kelnos 4y ago
"Maneuvering capability" probably means that it can affect its course (probably by ascending or descending to find more favorable winds), not speed.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
Not much they could do there. Highly likely just up and down: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chinese-spy-balloon-has-unexpected-maneuverability/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chinese-spy-ballo... Unless the Chinese have balloon control tech we’ve never even fathomed before. That would be way scarier than the balloon itself.
letmevoteplease 4y ago
"Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers." https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-51e49202f2a0a50541cde059934c4cfb https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government...