U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Missouri: How we know that

Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by Ankaios on Friday February 24, 2023 @08:42PM (#34932883)

Supporting the spy angle is the pretty obvious connectivity [...] but it also doesn't really make that much sense... surely a satellite does what this does but better? China has no shortage of high quality spy satellites.

Balloons aren't "bad satellites" or "poor-man's satellites." Satellites and balloons each have different things that they are good at.

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by themodelplumber on Friday February 24, 2023 @11:58PM (#34934040)

I was wondering if this might be able to xmit for any number of reasons, from fake cell tower to other kinds, maybe even a numbers station function.

Certainly the altitude differential and ease of navigation (presumed, mostly due to balloon having propellers vs. satellites having either much more costly navigation or none) raise this question.

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