JUST IN - U.S. is tracking an unidentified high-altitude balloon

Is this a diversion for PR?

Is this racist?

Anything else of a checklist?

Hobby Balloons?

😎

Is this the major threat they we talking about the other day? 🤣

a reply to: pianopraze


It seems to be made of Mylar, which means it floats at a relatively constant altitude (43 to 45 thousand feet). That means it's not maneuverable by catching winds going different directions at different altitudes.

The payload is a roughly 2 ft cube. Probably a cheap styrofoam picnic chest; that's what most balloon hobbyists use.

It probably belongs to a private balloon hobbyist group.

IMHO

a reply to: pianopraze

That picture of Gen. Patrick S. Ryder is old !!!

He is a 2-Star Major General. The pic has 1-Star !!!! 😃

This is ridiculous , it’s not like the thing is over California or Texas. It’s floating over the middle of the country almost. This balloon should have been dealt with while it was over the ocean.

Chinese are pouring into our border and they keep flying balloons with unknown contents over our country.

These balloons aren’t small either.

China keeps eating our lunch and current administration doesn’t have the balls to do ANYTHING about it.

Dbl post

a reply to: Allaroundya4k

Nothing happened last time…

originally posted by: xuenchen
Is this a diversion for PR?

Is this racist?

Anything else of a checklist?

Hobby Balloons?

😎

Well we have this Gov shutdown looming next week. They are going to throw everything they got to pass either another CR which I doubt or the omnibus which I also doubt.

Many universities, corporations, privateers make their own projects using ballooning. The problem here is the breakdown of our Government's competence to ascertain threat from projects or hobbyist's. The Government is so bloated beyond belief at this point that one hand does not know what the other hand is doing, or it's China or Russia the MSM will say when it could be Darpa or others doing tests.

Too many diversity hires that know very little.

originally posted by: Boomer1947
a reply to: pianopraze


It seems to be made of Mylar, which means it floats at a relatively constant altitude (43 to 45 thousand feet). That means it's not maneuverable by catching winds going different directions at different altitudes.

The payload is a roughly 2 ft cube. Probably a cheap styrofoam picnic chest; that's what most balloon hobbyists use.

It probably belongs to a private balloon hobbyist group.

IMHO

Thank you for injecting some sanity into this thread.


If this balloon is flying at 40-45, 000FT, it is probably traveling at around 200MPH, give or take. That means that it most likely has not been aloft for a long time; certainly not long enough to have originated from across the Pacific, I'm guessing. And since it does not appear to be maneuverable, it is highly unlikely to be any kind of ISR device, at least not in the military sense.

If you can't control, or predict, where your "snooper" is going to go, you can't expect it to see the things you want to spy on.


I swear, the majority of folks.......


ETA:


If this balloon is small, slow, and flying low, it is probably very difficult to track using radar. Cardboard, foam board, balsa wood, carbon fiber, glue and tape, the materials I used to use years ago when I built high-altitude balloons, do not show up well on radar. We had to employ radio transponders in our vehicles to track them.

Now, unless you set the sensitivity of your radar systems to maximum, something like this little thing is going to be overlooked most of the time.

Along with the birds it will look like on the scopes.

I read it has two 2' cube shaped boxes suspended from the balloon. They said "we dont know what is in them, but its not a threat."

That last sentence doesn't make sense to me

I haven’t seen any footage of this balloon yet.

But the awesome thing about the year ago spy balloon was it was illuminated like a giant neon bulb. I was very impressed. It was certainly a world record for the largest light bulb ever.

The dust it let out after being shot looked the same as the dust if a neon sign explodes.

It was quite a shame it got shot down, instead of studied.

But what else could you expect from all the lunatics here on Earth?

originally posted by: visitedbythem
I read it has two 2' cube shaped boxes suspended from the balloon. They said "we dont know what is in them, but its not a threat."

That last sentence doesn't make sense to me

Because the volume of the balloon at altitude means the weight of the payload (the boxes) is too small to be anything with a mass high enough to be a serious threat to the public. They have likely already scanned the payload for radiation.

And chemical or biological threats released at that altitude would be harmlessly dissipated by the high level winds aloft to the point that their concentrations would be too low to pose a threat.

a reply to: Mantiss2021

I agree it's probably nothing other than a hobbyist doing their thing, but the act of the threat is all that is needed to instill fear. We wouldn't even be aware of this if it wasn't for the media, CBS in this case who is quoting some "Official".
Dropping something highly radiated into a water supply (a towns water shed) and it would be death by a thousand cuts. A radiated object wouldn't have to weigh much. Even if they scanned for radiation I doubt the next step would be to shoot it down immediately. They would probably observe it and wait until its in a less populated area.

a reply to: TheLieWeLive

Actually, to be an effective threat, "something radiated" would likely weigh quite a bit.


To avoid detection, in the case of an airborne delivery system, you would need a significant amount of very heavy shielding. That means a much bigger balloon with a much larger payload capability.

And you would need much more radioactive material to seriously compromise a municipal water supply due to the dilution effect. Not to mention the fact that excess radiation (in the form of radon emissions) is one thing commonly tested. Once the detectors are triggered, the system is shut down and flushed.



I do agree that if an airborne radiation source is detected, it would be preferable to leave it alone until it can be safely brought down in an unpopulated area.


One of the reasons I postulated thaUSAF did not attempt to shoot down what turned out to be tha "Chinese Spy Balloon" last year:


The (as yet unconfirmed, and undisclosed) possibility that it carried a radioactive RTG on-board as an auxiliary power source.

How much would a box of viruses weigh?

a reply to: Enduro

Considering our politicians have sold us out to China - are they really spying? Or just surveying their own territory….

originally posted by: nugget1
How much would a box of viruses weigh?

Chemical or biological threats released at that altitude would be harmlessly dissipated by the high level winds aloft to the point that their concentrations would be too low to pose a threat.

originally posted by: Mantiss2021

originally posted by: Boomer1947
a reply to: pianopraze


It seems to be made of Mylar, which means it floats at a relatively constant altitude (43 to 45 thousand feet). That means it's not maneuverable by catching winds going different directions at different altitudes.

The payload is a roughly 2 ft cube. Probably a cheap styrofoam picnic chest; that's what most balloon hobbyists use.

It probably belongs to a private balloon hobbyist group.

IMHO

Thank you for injecting some sanity into this thread.


If this balloon is flying at 40-45, 000FT, it is probably traveling at around 200MPH, give or take. That means that it most likely has not been aloft for a long time; certainly not long enough to have originated from across the Pacific, I'm guessing. And since it does not appear to be maneuverable, it is highly unlikely to be any kind of ISR device, at least not in the military sense.

If you can't control, or predict, where your "snooper" is going to go, you can't expect it to see the things you want to spy on.


I swear, the majority of folks.......


ETA:


If this balloon is small, slow, and flying low, it is probably very difficult to track using radar. Cardboard, foam board, balsa wood, carbon fiber, glue and tape, the materials I used to use years ago when I built high-altitude balloons, do not show up well on radar. We had to employ radio transponders in our vehicles to track them.

Now, unless you set the sensitivity of your radar systems to maximum, something like this little thing is going to be overlooked most of the time.

Along with the birds it will look like on the scopes.

It's not sanity, just more ignorance from one of your com mie teammates. Because it's ILLEGAL to operate any "hobby" balloons below 60,000 feet per FAA rules. I would bet neither of you would even know the reasons why or care.

originally posted by: Mantiss2021

originally posted by: nugget1
How much would a box of viruses weigh?

Chemical or biological threats released at that altitude would be harmlessly dissipated by the high level winds aloft to the point that their concentrations would be too low to pose a threat.

Once the box is open, yes it could dissipate, but if the box makes it to the surface before breaching we have an issue. They have viruses that don't care how much water they are in. They will still kill if you drink or bath in them.