Where does space really begin? Chinese spy balloon highlights legal fuzziness of ‘near space’
grid.newsSubmitted by HarpuasGhost t3_114s21e in space
Submitted by HarpuasGhost t3_114s21e in space
Using balloons is an excellent way to hurt your rivals/enemies. It costs them far more to destroy a surveillance balloon that it does to build one and fly it over their territory.
meh, it's not like the US had to purchase the missile specifically for this shootdown.
It was basically just a big training exercise for the US military.
If this becomes a more commonplace thing, I wonder if a high power laser would be the move as far as cost effectiveness. Or just for my sheer entertainment 🔫
You don't think they buy replacements once they've been used?
Edit: imagine being so upset by a basic question that you feel you have to downvote it. Some people are weird.
they also buy replacements if they haven’t been used
missiles don’t last forever
US military buys 600 Sidewinders a year
This is now a live-fire exercise the pilot doesn't need
What would that balloon have learned that wasn't already on Google earth and publicly available GPS data?
A good anount of RF traffic
Still, if you were a Chinese intelligence officer that was aware that the U.S. military had been shadowing your receiver during its overflight, how much would you trust the information you were allowed to acquire?
Not a ton, but apparently these have gone unnoticed before.
Or at any rate that's what we'd like them to think.
You know... the balloon could have two way radio. It could have sent data out as well... even to simple things like cell phone towers.
Very true. I suppose we'll probably never know the full truth of it
nothing - but it costs the US a lot of money to shoot it down!
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