The US is working on their own spy balloon.[1] Why wouldn't China?

[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/05/u-s-militarys-newes...

> China has spy satellites that can do what this balloon supposedly can,

Satellites have predictable orbits and are otherwise tracked, but a stealthy balloon might go unnoticed and manage to surveil sites that don’t mask their sensitive activities when they think the sky is currently clear. It’s possible that the ballon is performing signals intelligence gathering, or something else satellites at altitude can’t do.

Also, the perception (true or otherwise) that the US is not fully able to control its national airspace is something China can make propaganda out of.

Even the smallest high atmosphere balloon is gigantic.

There's simply no way one could ever be hidden from radar. So 'stealthy balloons' do not exist.

That’s a bit emphatic, surely?

If you can make a B2 bomber stealthy then perhaps you can do the same with a balloon - the bags are thin polythene [1] and I assume you could combine geometry and radar absorbing material to make a payload disappear.

If it were that obviously visible why wasn’t it intercepted when it crossed into America’s air defence identification zone?

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/scientific-balloons/types-of-balloons

It's very clearly not stealthy, it's got solar panels hanging from it. I'm sure you could make a stealthy box, but this is not that.

If you don't know what your talking about it's usually more polite to admit it, instead of trying to double down.

That's one heck of a weather balloon.

https://archive.ph/DJgKa