Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over U.S., Pentagon says

Re:Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over U.S., Pentagon ... by petodo on Friday February 03, 2023 @02:49AM (#34638362)

Can someone explain to me how is this any different from spy satellite? Yet nobody would think about shooting down spy satellite, yet you see in this thread people discussing shooting down a baloon, what's the difference between them? Does baloon provide better data than satellite? Isn't it just cheaper version of satellite with ability to provide same data?

edit: from CNN article:

"“Balloon payloads can now weigh less and so the balloons can be smaller, cheaper and easier to launch” than satellites, Layton said."

TLDR they are cheaper

"“An advantage of balloons is that they can be steered using onboard computers to take advantage of winds and they can go up and down to a limited degree. This means they can loiter to a limited extent.

“A satellite can’t loiter and so many are needed to criss-cross an area of interest to maintain surveillance,” he said."

TLDR they can loiter in place compared to satellite

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Re:Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over U.S., Pentagon ... by case0x00 on Friday February 03, 2023 @03:17AM (#34638606)

the ISR payload tends to be massively less as well, with a balloon compared to a satellite, since balloon payloads need to be really small. they are basically an obsolete technology since the development of reconnaissance satellites, UAVs, etc, so I really doubt this is collecting much valuable intelligence. also shooting down satellites is definitely a sketchy area (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon) because of in-space collisions etc.

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Re:Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over U.S., Pentagon ... by zw123456 on Friday February 03, 2023 @08:43AM (#34640939)

Main difference, a balloon can carry a payload that is capable of jamming rather than just surveilling radio signals.

Something not being talked about.

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Re:Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over U.S., Pentagon ... by IAmGraydon on Saturday February 04, 2023 @07:17AM (#34653904)

>Can someone explain to me how is this any different from spy satellite?

A balloon can carry a weapon which could immediately have an impact if detonated at its current altitude (EMP, for example). A balloon can also descend to a lower altitude.

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