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Object Seen in the Sky over northwest US

#11
confused2 Offline
Might've been fun for Spacex to have sent up a smiley face rocket to say hello to it. Maybe even have tried to capture the thing alive and show it porn classic American movies.
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#12
C C Offline
(Feb 5, 2023 05:40 PM)Yazata Wrote: It's hard not to speculate that the reason the balloon was shot down was largely political. Joe and his deep-state handlers saw all the criticism he was receiving (including from within his own party) for letting the balloon drift over the US. So he/they decided to shoot it down in hopes of making him look strong. But given that they only shot it down after it had crossed the US and completed its mission (assuming that it was a spy balloon which seems likely), criticism is continuing and I don't think that belatedly shooting it down helps Joe very much.

At least the administration's policy toward the balloon would have otherwise appeared consistent. But belatedly shooting it down makes it look like they were really snoozing through most of it, as is typically attributed to Biden.

Only out I see is claiming that if it crossed the pond, the countries there might be mildly appalled that the US cared nothing about allowing it to progress to their airspace as well. The putative 2nd balloon that crossed Latin American territory seemed to provoke little if any local concern, though. And even speculatively suggesting that Europe or Africa would not be as indifferent toward it would reflect badly upon the administration's own approach.



Why would the Chinese government be flying a large stratospheric balloon?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/...c-balloon/

EXCERPTS: “It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes..."

[...] The true purpose of the balloon, be it this or something else, is not presently known. But again, given its large size, the balloon likely was not being used to gather meteorological data.

What other reason might a large balloon be in the stratosphere?

The obvious, and probably correct answer, is spying. China, of course, has excellent observation satellites in low-Earth orbit, just like the United States. However, Antonio said, stratospheric balloons have some key advantages. By raising and lowering itself in the atmosphere, a stratospheric balloon can maintain its position over an area for hours, days, or even weeks. This provides higher-resolution imagery, with a persistence that satellites cannot match, at a far lower price. Urban Sky, for example, is developing small stratospheric balloons that can be used to monitor the progress of wildfires and efforts to contain them.

So the Chinese launched this balloon to spy directly on the United States?

Probably not. The Chinese would have known that sending a clearly observable balloon into the US heartland would be a provocative action, and they are unlikely to have done so on purpose.

The most likely scenario, Antonio believes, is that the termination mechanism, which is used to bring down a balloon at the end of its desired flight time, failed...

[...] The time to fly such a balloon, for spying purposes, would be during the summer months, Antonio said. That's because during the winter the winds throughout the stratosphere are much more uniform in the Northern Hemisphere. This means that raising and lowering the balloon would provide very little steering capability. "Controlled stratospheric flight is a thing, but it's not something you can really do over the United States at this time of year," Antonio said.

Some photos showed large solar panels. What are those for?

They're likely being used to power the onboard instrumentation, such as powerful cameras or telescopes, as well as a mechanism to raise and lower the balloon, if one exists on board.

If this were a spy balloon, what is there to look at in Montana?

There are some Air Force facilities with nuclear capabilities in the state, but there is no information to be gleaned by this balloon that has not already been collected by satellites. US military officials do not believe there is any strategic advantage for China to make observations with a balloon. This lends more credence to the notion that it has gone off course, perhaps due to the failed termination system.

[...] So what does this all mean?

In recent years we have seen the increased militarization of space. It therefore should not be a huge surprise that we are also seeing such capabilities developed in the stratosphere, which lies above the troposphere and extends several tens of kilometers above the surface of the Earth.
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#13
Syne Offline
Now they're claiming a Chinese balloon went down over Hawaii 4 months ago, and that one crossed over Texas and Florida during the Trump administration. But all national security and intel officials from Trump's admin say it never happened or they never heard about it.

Sounds like Biden admin trying desperately to deflect criticism.
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#14
C C Offline
U.S. failed to detect past Chinese spy balloons, Air Force general says
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fail...023-02-06/

EXCERPTS: A senior U.S. general responsible for bringing down a Chinese spy balloon said on Monday the military had not detected previous spy balloons before the one that appeared on Jan. 28 over the United States and called it an "awareness gap."

The Pentagon said over the weekend that Chinese spy balloons had briefly flown over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump's administration and one previously under President Joe Biden.

[...] VanHerck added that U.S. intelligence determined the previous flights after the fact based on "additional means of collection" of intelligence without offering further details on whether that might be cyber espionage, telephone intercepts or human sources.

Senior U.S. officials have offered to brief individuals from the previous administration on the details of previous balloons overflights when Trump was president.

Republican Representative Michael Waltz, who serves on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, said on Sunday that the Pentagon had told him that several Chinese balloon incidents had happened over the past few years, including over Florida.

[...] VanHerck did not rule out that there could have been explosives on the balloon [shot down], but said he did not have any evidence of it either. That risk, however, was a factor in his planning to shoot down the balloon over open water.
- - - - - - - -

That many occurrences (and only the ones the Pentagon discovered) means China is either extraordinarily careless at controlling them or they are indeed spy related. How many other kinds of UAP "vessels" from other countries are they failing to detect? Get in on the action, North Korea -- these revelations are basically a big invite, if you and many others are not already participating.


Improved surveillance caught Chinese balloon, White House says
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/polit...s-2724474/

U.S. officials said Monday that improvements ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped identify last week’s spy balloon — and determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that after Biden took office, the U.S. “enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect.”

- - - - - - - -

White House says Chinese spy balloon was watching ‘sensitive military sites’ and program has been targeting US for years
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...76839.html

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Saturday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

- - - - - - - -

Joe Biden to go on the offensive against China in state of the union speech
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-china...on-1779294

President Joe Biden is likely to harden his rhetoric towards China in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down after passing over the U.S., experts say. While the president is unlikely to tackle head-on Republican criticism that the balloon was not taken out sooner, Biden will "portray China as a bad actor" amid appeals for bipartisanship, according to Alex Waddan, an associate professor in politics at the University of Leicester in the U.K.

- - - - - - - -

U.S. prediction of war 'in 2025' with China imperils global security
https://independentaustralia.net/politic...rity,17208

INTRO: 'My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,' writes General Mike Minahan, head of the United States Air Force’s (USAF) Air Mobility Command. The General has sent a memorandum to the leadership of the 110,000-strong USAF, with the unambiguous title, 'February 2023 Orders in Preparation for – The Next Fight'.

That fight, in the view of this key military leader, will be against China. Minahan’s belligerent tone is set with his order for personnel to 'consider their personal affairs' and if that was not blunt enough, to 'fire a clip into a 7-meter target, with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head'.

The Pentagon offered what was intended to be a more diplomatic position: “China is the pacing challenge for the Department of Defense and our focus remains on working alongside allies and partners to preserve a peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The Chinese, for their part, have difficulty seeing the placatory Pentagon remarks as being all that soothing.

The flashpoint remains Taiwan. The sabre rattling between China and the U.S. and its allies goes on. Kevin McCarthy, the new U.S. Republican House Speaker has formalised his position as a continuation of the drum-thumping posture of Nancy Pelosi.
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#15
Kornee Offline
If that sabre rattling rhetoric isn't clear enough evidence it's the edgy puppet string pulling US oligarch regime that is the warmongering party, nothing will.
Perhaps we all need to focus real carefully on 'Survival Lilly' postings from now on! Or just get into a Zen mode fatalist mindset, or something. Bad times ahead.
Unless perhaps you are a super rich oligarch with all the survival shelter infrastructure ill gotten wealth can afford.
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#16
Yazata Offline
The US Navy has a major operation going to recover the Chinese spy balloon. 

Estimates are that the business end of this very large balloon weighed thousands of pounds and probably is at the bottom of the Atlantic. But it fell very close to the South Carolina coast in what might be shallow continental shelf waters. So the Navy has divers and unmanned undersea vehicles scouring the sea floor looking for it.

Photos released by the Navy


[Image: Balloon-cleanup-3.jpg?ve=1&tl=1]
[Image: Balloon-cleanup-3.jpg?ve=1&tl=1]




[Image: balloon-recovery.jpg?ve=1&tl=1]
[Image: balloon-recovery.jpg?ve=1&tl=1]

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#17
Kornee Offline
Courtesy of Chris Lehto - Detailed trivia including humor, mostly realistic sims, actual footage of popped balloon, and expert commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0p_xtCA8iQ
Interesting how the US air force has made hard work for the navy recovery effort by shredding the payload rather than just the balloon itself.
Gung ho! Yee haw! Sock it to em!
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#18
Zinjanthropos Offline
What the hell is wrong with photography when it comes to objects in the sky. Despite all the tech we can muster is there a camera that can take a clear picture of an airborne object? I’ve been knocking UAP proponents for years about photo quality and yet this big balloon’s pic is just about as grainy. Is a clear Earth sky shot the holy grail for camera enthusiasts?
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#19
Kornee Offline
(Feb 8, 2023 01:54 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: What the hell is wrong with photography when it comes to objects in the sky. Despite all the tech we can muster is there a camera that can take a clear picture of an airborne object? I’ve been knocking UAP proponents for years about photo quality and yet this big balloon’s pic is just about as grainy. Is a clear Earth sky shot the holy grail for camera enthusiasts?
It's likely still a case of, just like with e.g. the tic tac UFO vids - 'we degrade released pics/footage so as not to give away our advanced capabilities to potential adversaries'.
Yes probably totally unnecessary paranoia. Although in the tic tac & gimbal cases, some claim the objects themselves were creating weird optical fuzziness. And actively jamming radar. Take it or leave it.
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#20
Zinjanthropos Offline
(Feb 8, 2023 02:56 PM)Kornee Wrote:
(Feb 8, 2023 01:54 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: What the hell is wrong with photography when it comes to objects in the sky. Despite all the tech we can muster is there a camera that can take a clear picture of an airborne object? I’ve been knocking UAP proponents for years about photo quality and yet this big balloon’s pic is just about as grainy. Is a clear Earth sky shot the holy grail for camera enthusiasts?
It's likely still a case of, just like with e.g. the tic tac UFO vids - 'we degrade released pics/footage so as not to give away our advanced capabilities to potential adversaries'.
Yes probably totally unnecessary paranoia. Although in the tic tac & gimbal cases, some claim the objects themselves were creating weird optical fuzziness. And actively jamming radar. Take it or leave it.

Where are the conspiracy theorists? Govt has enacted top secret law that all sky object images be rendered grainy before publishing. Rolleyes Especially spy apparatus or maybe they consider all UAP to be spycraft.

But we all know pics are grainy because FTL craft are bringing a warp bubble with them. Nothing like a warp bubble to blur a photo image Smile
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