Thoughts on Chinese Spy Balloon?

@metal-brain said
Prove you can do effective spying at 60,000 feet.
The Chinese are not allowed to experiment with weather balloon size to carry heavier sensitive instruments for measuring the atmosphere? I think you have a regulated balloon size conspiracy theory. Tell me who made these balloon size rules?

Metal Brain has an affinity for the Chinee, I see. Brrrrrrrrr

@jj-adams said
I can't figure you out, MetalB
Sometimes I think you are right on and are correct, other times you sound like a gigantic dooosh.
This is one of those times.

Where is your evidence?

I think you are merely frustrated that you can find no evidence. You are promoting a by definition "conspiracy theory". Why not just be honest and call it a "suspected" spy balloon? That is another way of admitting you have no evidence, just suspicions.

I suspect things too, but at least I will admit I believe in a conspiracy theory when confronted about it. Will you admit that the allegation of a "spy balloon" is a conspiracy theory? It was in the typical altitude of a weather balloon. It is possible that heavier weather data equipment required bigger balloon size to carry it at 60,000 feet. Where is your evidence?

If you can prove the U2 spy plane that Francis Gary Powers was flying had a high altitude when he got caught by the soviets I will consider the possibility it could be a spy balloon, but you have not proven that. What altitude was he at when he got busted?

@metal-brain said
If you can prove the U2 spy plane that Francis Gary Powers was flying had a high altitude when he got caught by the soviets I will consider the possibility it could be a spy balloon, but you have not proven that. What altitude was he at when he got busted?

It's a matter of historical fact he was at 70k altitude (or thereabouts) when the SA-2 took him down.
Look it up yourself, I was a kid when it happened and remember it.

@jj-adams said
It's a matter of historical fact he was at 70k altitude (or thereabouts) when the SA-2 took him down.
Look it up yourself, I was a kid when it happened and remember it.

No, you provide your source of information.
You can either prove it or you cannot. From my experience people who tell me to look it up myself are lying 90% of the time.

@metal-brain said
Another conspiracy theory. Where is your evidence?

I said it MAY have been fitted with thrusters. Prove it was not fitted with thrusters.

@metal-brain said
No, you provide your source of information.
You can either prove it or you cannot. From my experience people who tell me to look it up myself are lying 90% of the time.

"Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union 60 years ago today on May 1, 1960. His U-2 spy plane was hit by an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile, one of 14 fired at him as he flew at approximately 70,500 ft. over Sverdlovsk. "

https://theaviationist.com/2020/05/01/shot-down-60-years-ago-today-we-visit-gary-powers-u-2-in-moscow-now/

@moonbus said
It may have been fitted with maneuvering thrusters aboard.

Not exactly "thrusters" but:

" Based on its small motors and propellers, officials also assess it can be actively maneuvered to fly over specific locations."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/timeline-a-chinese-spy-balloon-s-7-day-trip-across-the-united-states/ar-AA1785Rf

@jj-adams said
THIS is a weather balloon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLpyTodmfg8
The gargantuan thing China sent over us is not.

America has larger-than-life weather systems, so only a gargantuan weather balloon would be adequate to survey them.

</ @metalbrain logic>

@moonbus said
I said it MAY have been fitted with thrusters. Prove it was not fitted with thrusters.

Generally, when someone makes a claim, it is up to them to support it with evidence.

@no1marauder said
Not exactly "thrusters" but:

" Based on its small motors and propellers, officials also assess it can be actively maneuvered to fly over specific locations."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/timeline-a-chinese-spy-balloon-s-7-day-trip-across-the-united-states/ar-AA1785Rf

Thanks. I admit, I watched too much Star Trek as a kid. The vocab rubbed off.

😆

@no1marauder said
Generally, when someone makes a claim, it is up to them to support it with evidence.

At least one news report claimed the thing was hovering, despite being in the jet stream. This strongly implies maneuvering capability.

@no1marauder said
"Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union 60 years ago today on May 1, 1960. His U-2 spy plane was hit by an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile, one of 14 fired at him as he flew at approximately 70,500 ft. over Sverdlovsk. "

https://theaviationist.com/2020/05/01/shot-down-60-years-ago-today-we-visit-gary-powers-u-2-in-moscow-now/

Okay, thanks. It is possible it could have been a spy balloon.
It is still technically a conspiracy theory though. It has never been proven.

@metal-brain said
Okay, thanks. It is possible it could have been a spy balloon.
It is still technically a conspiracy theory though. It has never been proven.

We'll see what the military recovers. FWIW, the Weather Channel is skeptical:

"H​ere are some key differences between the China balloon and the type of weather balloon used by the National Weather Service.

-​Weather balloons are about 6 feet wide when they're launched, and then expand to about 20 feet in diameter as they rise. The Chinese balloon is estimated to be as big as three buses.

-​Weather balloons are designed to deploy an instrument called a radiosonde to measure temperature, pressure and humidity. Once at altitude - typically around 60,000 feet or higher - the balloon bursts and the radiosonde floats back to Earth on a parachute.

-​Weather balloons are only in the air for a couple of hours. The U.S. has been tracking the China balloon since at least Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

-​Weather balloons usually only fly about 100 miles from where they were launched."

https://weather.com/news/news/2023-02-04-chinese-balloon-spy-weather

@no1marauder said
We'll see what the military recovers. FWIW, the Weather Channel is skeptical:

"H​ere are some key differences between the China balloon and the type of weather balloon used by the National Weather Service.

-​Weather balloons are about 6 feet wide when they're launched, and then expand to about 20 feet in diameter as they rise. The Chinese balloon is estimated to be ...[text shortened]... m where they were launched."

https://weather.com/news/news/2023-02-04-chinese-balloon-spy-weather

So China modified one to hopefully last a long time to save money. I suspect lots of things you disagree with because I do not have absolute proof at times. Should I hold you to a different standard than you do me?

It is still a conspiracy theory. The evidence fell over 11 miles into the ocean. China compared it to giving a child a balloon only for the US to pop it and ruin it for the child. The evidence is gone. It was destroyed.

@metal-brain said
So China modified one to hopefully last a long time to save money. I suspect lots of things you disagree with because I do not have absolute proof at times. Should I hold you to a different standard than you do me?

It is still a conspiracy theory. The evidence fell over 11 miles into the ocean. China compared it to giving a child a balloon only for the US to pop it and ruin it for the child. The evidence is gone. It was destroyed.

I don't know where you get your info from (did Jimmy Dore do a podcast on this?) but it's completely wrong:

"Navy divers were working to locate portions of the debris from the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S. fighter jet shot down 6 miles off the coast of South Carolina, defense officials said Sunday.

The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water, a defense official said. He added that a Navy ship arrived on the scene soon after the balloon was shot down, and that other Navy and Coast Guard ships, which had been put on alert, were also sent to the scene."

"Pentagon officials have made clear that they plan to collect every piece of debris that Navy divers can retrieve, for America’s own intelligence purposes. Because the balloon was shot down in relatively shallow water, they believe that the recovery effort will not be difficult."

https://news.yahoo.com/navy-divers-recover-debris-chinese-160632958.html

" The debris is in about 47 feet of water, a relatively shallow site that a salvage ship and divers will investigate in the coming days. "

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-downs-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-off-carolina-coast/ar-AA176qX3