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A balloon that requires a missile to be brought down has to be really big, like soccer field big. In which case it won’t cost just $10k.
by elorant 4y ago
A balloon that requires a missile to be brought down has to be really big, like soccer field big. In which case it won’t cost just $10k.
- s1artibartfast 4y agoMy understanding is that basically all of these balloons require missiles due to their altitude, not because of their structure. Edit: looks like I was wrong. The balloons were only 40-60k feet, which is within the range of military aircraft. reply
- bagels 4y agoDo we the modern jets have guns still?
- s1artibartfast 4y agoYes, some do.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- giantg2 4y agoWhat would they cost? $10k seems reasonably close given the price below. https://weatherscientific.com/collections/weather-balloons/products/kaymont-hab-tx-4000-balloons https://weatherscientific.com/collections/weather-balloons/p...
- elorant 4y agoThat’s just the fabric. What about all the equipment you’ll put inside? And for the US to bother to shoot them down my guess is that they’re doing something really funky with what they’re carrying.
- giantg2 4y agoIf you fly dummies for the purpose of having them shot down, they wouldn't have to carry much. It's probably nothing too expensive or they'd put it on a satellite. If they're flying really expensive stuff at commercial flight levels, that's pretty dumb since it will be shot down.
- jrockway 4y ago> If they're flying really expensive stuff at commercial flight levels, that's pretty dumb since it will be shot down. Seemed like a good strategy until about a week ago!
- giantg2 4y agoThe prior ones weren't at the commercial level.
- elorant 4y agoIF they’re dummies why bother shooting them down?
- giantg2 4y agoWe won't know that until the debris is recovered. There's no way to know what payload the next one will be carrying either.
- undersuit 4y agoAnd what if it's just "upcycled" electronics. We could spend a boat load trying to recover bogus data from seawater logged flash drives for nothing.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- taneq 4y agoDid it require it, or was that just what they used?