The payload doesn’t have to be explosive to be self destructive. Spy gear and weather gear can be the same hardware, I assume the ROM on the hardware and the da

The payload doesn’t have to be explosive to be self destructive. Spy gear and weather gear can be the same hardware, I assume the ROM on the hardware and the data collected would be the real evidence. Some well-placed magnesium strips or maybe even deleting the data as a failsafe would be effective. Wouldn’t surprise me if shooting it down was the least risky idea. It’ll probably be 40 years until we know what the real reasoning is though!