Balloon spy

[Danceswithoctopus]

No, the public learning about the balloon derailed the meeting.

Correlation is not the same as causation.

Now, prove your statement.

 

[silent bob]

Found it!

 

[Lark]

Where did you see information about it having a 'big propulsion system'?

"Pentagon Sources" per major networks claimed it was being steered and circling or corkscrewing. I gave cites early in this thread. That raises the obvious question of how to steer a drifting object or sail an object without a centerboard, but this is what our military was saying. Maybe Longy is right, and the Chinese were just very adeptly using altitude, thermals or something. Maybe our space force experts can't tell the difference between drifting and sailing.

 

[badlatitude]

Not so sure about that. My 3 brothers and I were all raised the same, but one of us, maybe even two, have turned into Fox News addicted, RWNJ's. For which I have no logical explanation??

Mercury in the baby formula is my guess. How else do you explain RW's thinking?

 

[longy]

It's not that hard - even the Japanese in WW2 got their balloons to successfully transit from northern Japan to the continental west coast. Completely autonomously

 

[Ishmael]

It's not that hard - even the Japanese in WW2 got their balloons to successfully transit from northern Japan to the continental west coast. Completely autonomously

Our local flight museum has some balloons and bombs that came down on Canada's west coast. Obviously the bombs had some issues.

 

[Dog 2.0]

Correlation is not the same as causation.

Now, prove your statement.

The meeting was not canceled when the administration learned of the spy balloon.

 

[MagentaLine]

The only reason Blinken would be going to china would be to pick up the check for the 10% owed to the Big Guy. Apparently there was only so much Hunter's art dealer could inflate the price of his finger paintings.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

"Pentagon Sources" per major networks claimed it was being steered and circling or corkscrewing. I gave cites early in this thread. That raises the obvious question of how to steer a drifting object or sail an object without a centerboard, but this is what our military was saying. Maybe Longy is right, and the Chinese were just very adeptly using altitude, thermals or something. Maybe our space force experts can't tell the difference between drifting and sailing.

I was asking Stringray about credible sources, not some unnamed defense department insider clickbait bullshit that no one with any brains would lend any credence to.

 

[Lark]

Biden says U.S. will "take care of" suspected Chinese spy balloon

U.S. military leaders recommended against shooting it down as it crossed over the middle of the country due to danger from debris, a senior defense official said.

www.cbsnews.com

The balloon is not going to run out of fuel, since it has solar panels. The (pentagon) official also said that the balloon steers by rudder and is corkscrewing around to slow its progress over land, but the jet stream continues to move it on a trajectory across the U.S. The Pentagon is still considering ways to "dispose" of it but has "grave concerns" about the damage it could cause if it fell to Earth.

Answering a question in Beijing on Friday during a regular briefing, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said the country "regrets that the airship strayed into the United States," which they attributed to a "westerly wind" and the device's limited "control ability."

 

[Lark]

Biden says U.S. will "take care of" suspected Chinese spy balloon

U.S. military leaders recommended against shooting it down as it crossed over the middle of the country due to danger from debris, a senior defense official said.

www.cbsnews.com

The balloon is not going to run out of fuel, since it has solar panels. The (pentagon) official also said that the balloon steers by rudder and is corkscrewing around to slow its progress over land, but the jet stream continues to move it on a trajectory across the U.S. The Pentagon is still considering ways to "dispose" of it but has "grave concerns" about the damage it could cause if it fell to Earth.

Answering a question in Beijing on Friday during a regular briefing, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said the country "regrets that the airship strayed into the United States," which they attributed to a "westerly wind" and the device's limited "control ability."

The Foreign Ministry official may have been a communist party official misidentified, if memory serves. I saw a correction on some Reuters sources.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Biden says U.S. will "take care of" suspected Chinese spy balloon

U.S. military leaders recommended against shooting it down as it crossed over the middle of the country due to danger from debris, a senior defense official said.

www.cbsnews.com

The balloon is not going to run out of fuel, since it has solar panels. The (pentagon) official also said that the balloon steers by rudder and is corkscrewing around to slow its progress over land, but the jet stream continues to move it on a trajectory across the U.S. The Pentagon is still considering ways to "dispose" of it but has "grave concerns" about the damage it could cause if it fell to Earth.

Answering a question in Beijing on Friday during a regular briefing, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said the country "regrets that the airship strayed into the United States," which they attributed to a "westerly wind" and the device's limited "control ability."

literally the laziest possible sourcing. "but a U.S. official says" is the only mention of the mystery rudder official. Confirms my suspicions that Stingray is a sucker

 

[billy backstay]

Mercury in the baby formula is my guess. How else do you explain RW's thinking?

RE: Nature vx. Nurture; I think they got involved with some RWNJ's in their workplaces and then got turned into the same??

 

[badlatitude]

RE: Nature vx. Nurture; I think they got involved with some RWNJ's in their workplaces and then got turned into the same??

I think a close family member or a close friend spurs it. My grandmother split us in half in my family, and nothing will change their RW minds. I became LW because my mother was stronger than my grandmother, and curiously both were very authoritarian.

 

[Stingray~]

Balloons "steer" by changing altitude, which changes the wind direction they are experiencing. I don't know what amount of wind direction changes can be found at that altitude, tho

Changing altitude with any precision could be problematic too, on a very-long drift. It's going to take some convincing evidence, to make me think this thing was anything but an errant weather/climate research balloon.

 

[Stingray~]

Confirms my suspicions that Stingray is a sucker

Lmao! About what?

There's an excellent chance that the Chinese military had no knowledge of even the existence of this research balloon, that country has plenty of shit going on just like us.

 

[bowman81]

There is a difference between something being steerable and having a propulsion system.

 

[Peter Andersen]

Changing altitude with any precision could be problematic too, on a very-long drift. It's going to take some convincing evidence, to make me think this thing was anything but an errant weather/climate research balloon.

Govt sources have said it had some sort of prop and steerage. not sure how well it worked.

NSC Spokesman John Kirby said the Chinese airship had a propeller and could maneuver in flight. This fits the FAA definition of an "airship"

 

[Tax Man]

I still think it would have been easier to recover over the prairies.
When the location is described as 18 NM E of Combine World you are seriously MFN.

 

[kent_island_sailor]

How to steer and move a powered balloon:
Like any other floating object, if you have a prop and rudders you can turn it and move it forward. Airships can go along fairly well, a big fat round balloon is going to be pretty hard to move very far or very fast.

Can cruise at 80 MPH

I would think the Chinese balloon would have been hard pressed to do 5 knots.