4 ms·

Yinpiao Zhou Charged with Drone Flying over Vandenberg

35 points by mistrial9 2y ago

gnabgib 2y ago
Small discussion (8 points, 20 hours ago, 4 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42394463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42394463
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
[flagged]
- jackcnreturns 2y ago
  [dead]
- noobermin 2y ago
  There are a lot of chinese nationals in the US. This kind of thinking is like those who think deporting all illegal immigrants will not somehow significantly harm the US economy. I feel like a lot of americans truly don't believe in "innocent until proven guilty" these days.
  - riku_iki 2y ago
    > This kind of thinking is like those who think deporting all illegal immigrants will not somehow significantly harm the US economy. I do not support what prev commenter said, but also I don't think you can mix these things, it is not that obvious that unregulated illegal immigration is better for economy than legal/regulated.
  - blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - affyboi 2y ago
      Maybe we should preemptively put them in internment camps until the war is over, just in case
      - jimmydoe 2y ago
        In this century, wars are unlikely to end once they are started, so camps might become permanent, gas chambers are more cost effective.
      - 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
        In a hypothetical conflict with China, how would you prevent sabotage?
- n144q 2y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Ameri...
aaron695 2y ago
[flagged]
- codezero 2y ago
  That document seems to indicate that the government believes he knowingly broke the law.
- maxglute 2y ago
  Yeah sounds like a dummy space nerd. As if PRC needs drone footages of Vandenberg. >ZHOU also recognized thatphotographing the SpaceX facility on VSFB was “probably not agood idea ... >ZHOU said he previously got into trouble in Chinafor flying a UAS in a restricted area. More specifically, ZHOUwas arrested for flying a UAS near a government building atPeople’s Square in Shanghai. He was subsequently fined for this.ZHOU did not register the UAS in China either. ... >ZHOU originally downloaded the bypasssoftware in 2019 to get around the no-fly zones in Shanghai.Referencing the bypass software and his UAS, ZHOU said,“Normally, if you didn’t have that software, it wouldn’t be ableto take off from here. OTOH >Notably, on that same day, November 30, 2024, a sensitive payload developed for the National Reconnaissance Office had been launched to orbit by a space contractor.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    But this arrest makes him a perfect candidate for this spying mission, so he could be dismissed as a space/drone nerd. And then one would have to ask whether the arrest in Shanghai is real or a made-up story. Or an event they orchestrated, so if some foreign intelligence agency quietly checks, they'll find eyewitnesses and people who can confirm the event, not knowing it was made up to give this man a cover story... I sound like a conspiracy nutter now, but a conspiracy nutter is convinced his idea is definitely what happened, I'm just throwing an idea.
grakker 2y ago
I wonder what a drone shot would give the CCP, that they wouldn't already have from satellites.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
  It's a potential goldmine. Spy satellites are on orbits and follow a very regular predictable path. I recall reading Patriot Games back in the day and terrorists had satellite timetables scrawled on a board so they knew when to cover their gear up with camouflage.
  - thegrim33 2y ago
    I can not believe that modern ones stay perfectly static without any built-in maneuvering capability to periodically change their orbit. I also can not believe that there isn't effectively continuous coverage of important sites by multiple satellites. You really think the billions (trillions?) of dollars spent on such equipment is completely outsmarted by people just covering things up on a set timetable?
    - 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
      Has one ever had too much information?
    - Teever 2y ago
      Those period adjustments of orbit can be detected and accounted for and the fuel to make frequent and erratic changes is prohibitively expensive to carry. Drones can also get better quality images than even many if not all spy satellites due to how close they can get to objects compared to the satellites.
    - netsharc 2y ago
      I speculate that there are US satellites up there watching the movements of Chinese satellites. I suppose they also have signal monitoring, the commands to the Chinese satellites would be encrypted but the mere detection of a signal should cause the observers to warn whomever it may concern within the US military/government behemoth. Now I'm imagining signals being hidden in Chinese satellite TV uplink, amongst the Chinese pop music videos...
black_13 2y ago
[dead]
yipikaye 2y ago
Also, 'they' let the drone operates for an hour despite been flagged?? What about data sent real-time. Shouldn't the drone been 'cancelled' as soon ad spotted?

35 points by mistrial9 2y ago

Small discussion (8 points, 20 hours ago, 4 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42394463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42394463

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

[flagged]

jackcnreturns 2y ago
[dead]
noobermin 2y ago
There are a lot of chinese nationals in the US. This kind of thinking is like those who think deporting all illegal immigrants will not somehow significantly harm the US economy. I feel like a lot of americans truly don't believe in "innocent until proven guilty" these days.
- riku_iki 2y ago
  > This kind of thinking is like those who think deporting all illegal immigrants will not somehow significantly harm the US economy. I do not support what prev commenter said, but also I don't think you can mix these things, it is not that obvious that unregulated illegal immigration is better for economy than legal/regulated.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - affyboi 2y ago
    Maybe we should preemptively put them in internment camps until the war is over, just in case
    - jimmydoe 2y ago
      In this century, wars are unlikely to end once they are started, so camps might become permanent, gas chambers are more cost effective.
    - 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
      In a hypothetical conflict with China, how would you prevent sabotage?
n144q 2y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Ameri...

aaron695 2y ago

[flagged]

codezero 2y ago
That document seems to indicate that the government believes he knowingly broke the law.
maxglute 2y ago
Yeah sounds like a dummy space nerd. As if PRC needs drone footages of Vandenberg. >ZHOU also recognized thatphotographing the SpaceX facility on VSFB was “probably not agood idea ... >ZHOU said he previously got into trouble in Chinafor flying a UAS in a restricted area. More specifically, ZHOUwas arrested for flying a UAS near a government building atPeople’s Square in Shanghai. He was subsequently fined for this.ZHOU did not register the UAS in China either. ... >ZHOU originally downloaded the bypasssoftware in 2019 to get around the no-fly zones in Shanghai.Referencing the bypass software and his UAS, ZHOU said,“Normally, if you didn’t have that software, it wouldn’t be ableto take off from here. OTOH >Notably, on that same day, November 30, 2024, a sensitive payload developed for the National Reconnaissance Office had been launched to orbit by a space contractor.
- netsharc 2y ago
  But this arrest makes him a perfect candidate for this spying mission, so he could be dismissed as a space/drone nerd. And then one would have to ask whether the arrest in Shanghai is real or a made-up story. Or an event they orchestrated, so if some foreign intelligence agency quietly checks, they'll find eyewitnesses and people who can confirm the event, not knowing it was made up to give this man a cover story... I sound like a conspiracy nutter now, but a conspiracy nutter is convinced his idea is definitely what happened, I'm just throwing an idea.

grakker 2y ago

I wonder what a drone shot would give the CCP, that they wouldn't already have from satellites.

2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
It's a potential goldmine. Spy satellites are on orbits and follow a very regular predictable path. I recall reading Patriot Games back in the day and terrorists had satellite timetables scrawled on a board so they knew when to cover their gear up with camouflage.
- thegrim33 2y ago
  I can not believe that modern ones stay perfectly static without any built-in maneuvering capability to periodically change their orbit. I also can not believe that there isn't effectively continuous coverage of important sites by multiple satellites. You really think the billions (trillions?) of dollars spent on such equipment is completely outsmarted by people just covering things up on a set timetable?
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
    Has one ever had too much information?
  - Teever 2y ago
    Those period adjustments of orbit can be detected and accounted for and the fuel to make frequent and erratic changes is prohibitively expensive to carry. Drones can also get better quality images than even many if not all spy satellites due to how close they can get to objects compared to the satellites.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    I speculate that there are US satellites up there watching the movements of Chinese satellites. I suppose they also have signal monitoring, the commands to the Chinese satellites would be encrypted but the mere detection of a signal should cause the observers to warn whomever it may concern within the US military/government behemoth. Now I'm imagining signals being hidden in Chinese satellite TV uplink, amongst the Chinese pop music videos...

black_13 2y ago

[dead]

yipikaye 2y ago

Also, 'they' let the drone operates for an hour despite been flagged?? What about data sent real-time. Shouldn't the drone been 'cancelled' as soon ad spotted?