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I am equally puzzled. But the recent aggressive statement by China [1] makes me think they are testing Biden's resolve. If you fly something in a foreign countr
by cm2187 4y ago
I am equally puzzled. But the recent aggressive statement by China [1] makes me think they are testing Biden's resolve. If you fly something in a foreign country's airspace, you don't get to complain that it has been shot down, particularly if it's just hardware. It looks like some sort of provocation to see how confrontational the US gets beyond cheap speech on TV. And I can't help suspecting that what made the US wait so long to shoot it is indecisiveness. It flew over huge areas of empty fields, it certainly isn't safety.
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-explosion-live-tracker-b2275770.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chinese-sp...
- jcynix 4y ago>It flew over huge areas of empty fields, it certainly isn't safety. Ok, but having it drop into water should increase the chance to retrieve less damaged parts to investigate then. I'd call this thoughtful, not indecivise.
- cm2187 4y agoWater will behave like concrete to an object of the size and weight of a car dropping at high speed (which seems to be the payload minus the solar panels). You can just see what happened to planes that crashed into water head on. And they are claiming it was for safety purposes.
- xattt 4y agoPictures from the ground showed structures like solar panels. If anything, the panels would act as sails and slow the fall and impact into the water.
- cm2187 4y agoEven if they had the strength, it would rotate to minimize air resistance.
- sandworm101 4y agoIf it was built as a balloon, none of those panels have any structure to support significant wind loading (balloons above 40k feet feel zero appreciable wind). They would come apart like confetti a few seconds into free fall.