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the first big balloon was described as 'as large as three buses' .. I'm not sure you are going to do any midair retrieval on something like that.
by sleepybrett 4y ago
the first big balloon was described as 'as large as three buses' .. I'm not sure you are going to do any midair retrieval on something like that.
- kqr2 4y agoActually the Chinese balloon payload is thought to be only about 900kg or about 2000lbs: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2358955-chinese-spy-balloon-everything-we-know-after-us-recovers-wreckage/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2358955-chinese-spy-bal... A US Military Cargo Helicopter can lift up to 36,000lbs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_CH-53K_King_Stallion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_CH-53K_King_Stallion
- kube-system 4y agoIt has a 16,000 ft ceiling though. The balloon was at 60,000 ft.
- hungryforcodes 4y agoHelos can't get up that far, and 900kg is about the size of a small car. That's pretty heavy for some "weather sensors".
- sleepybrett 4y agoReally i think the only way they could have done to gather any intelligence on the thing would have been to get a man on it somehow. Every way I figure it would have been a crazy nightmare of failures though. Also no telling if the thing wasn't stuffed with explosives, if it was for intelligence gathering I'd imagine that it would have some kind of self destruct system for at least the portions that handle uplink.
- ummonk 4y agoWell one way to do it would be to shoot holes in the balloon so it leaks and descends slowly. Of course can’t wait for it to be over the sea to do that.