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Actually the Chinese balloon payload is thought to be only about 900kg or about 2000lbs: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2358955-chinese-spy-balloon-every
by kqr2 4y ago
Actually 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.