Surprise!

[Crossroads]

Crossroads is Finnish?? Who knew...

I try to be more quiet in future to match the national character. I mean, we have the red colour in our flag for a reason...

[bobarossa]

A friend who had business trips to Finland was told you can tell an outgoing Finn because when he talks to you he looks at YOUR shoes.

[Crossroads]

A friend who had business trips to Finland was told you can tell an outgoing Finn because when he talks to you he looks at YOUR shoes.

Don't say (s)he was wearing shoes at someone's house! The horror

[Tripoli]

Hard to tell from the pic if it has any maneuverability but it could be done with either a weak propulsion system on the 'payload' structure or by raising and lowering the balloon to different elevations with different prevailing winds using release valves to lower and lifting gas reserves to raise. Could be a combo. Those solar cells should provide enough power to electric motors for very minimal maneuverability. My money's on the changes in elevation since the wind directions at different elevations can be somewhat predictable.

Apparently, DARPA developed a technique to steer balloons using lasers to measure wind velocity and direction, and the concept was proven in 2019.  https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a38005873/pentagon-balloons-strattolite/

[Sir Slash]

Two shocking revelations today. Croosroads is Finnish, of which I approve, and balloons can be steered by lasers, which I dis-approve. I wonder how close we are to, 'Smart' balloons that can steer themselves? Cause if we're close, I ain't never going to one of my grandkids birthday parties again. I don't want them sum-bitches following me home. 

[FarAway Sooner]

Two shocking revelations today. Croosroads is Finnish, of which I approve, and balloons can be steered by lasers, which I dis-approve. I wonder how close we are to, 'Smart' balloons that can steer themselves? Cause if we're close, I ain't never going to one of my grandkids birthday parties again. I don't want them sum-bitches following me home. 

 

Balloons strike me as being a bit like canoes.  They can be "steered" but you have a very hard time "propelling" them.  Everything I know about meteorology I learned from staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I'm glad we continue to learn things about each other.  Crossroads is the first person I've ever known (personally or virtually) who made it across the Finnish Line!

[Windigo]

Don't dis canoes, it depends on the canoe's length/type/materials used and the skill of the paddler Sooner.

[Sir Slash]

I'm good with canoes, I just got to be the only one paddling. Anybody else helps, we end-up in the weeds. They call me, 'The Canoe-Whisperer'.

[Gusington]

I should consider moving to Finland, I would fit the national character.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Altogether now Finophiles!

[JasonPratt]

Hadn't gotten around to posting this interview with the Epoch Times (or its sister media NTDTV rather), but they interviewed a retired US Colonel about maneuver capability for that balloon.

Will post from beyond the paywall; article written by Tiffany Meier (host of the original program for the interview) and Venus Upadhayaya:

The Chinese spy balloon had maneuvering capability and had similarities to the Google balloon project Loon, which utilized AI analytics in its operations, according to Col. (Ret.) John Mills, an author and former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense.

"What's very interesting is in 2012, I was at Google and Google briefed me on Project Loon, their balloon project. And they use their advanced AI and analytics to raise and lower the balloon and they could maintain the position of a balloon by raising and lowering it. And they could also maneuver it," Mills said in an interview recorded on Feb. 9 on China in Focus, a show on NTD TV, The Epoch Times' sister media.

He said throughout the "spy balloon" episode that the Department of Defense has very clearly said that the Chinese balloon had maneuvering capability.

The Chinese regime maintained that it was a runaway weather balloon, but the U.S. administration has refuted such claims.

"This was a PRC surveillance balloon. This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites," said a senior defense official speaking on background in a statement on Feb. 4, indicating that the balloon could steer itself over the United States.

Mills said that when Google briefed him about the Loon project a decade ago, he was struck by its similarities with the CIA balloon projects of the past.

"This looks a lot like the CIA project from the 50s and 60s. It was called by about 10 different code names—Skyhook, AshCan [etc.]. The Google Project Manager ... had left NASA and was working for Google, goes, 'Yes, we actually FOA'd [Freedom of Information Act] CIA, and they gave us all the plans," said Mills.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, was using Project Loon to explore the possibility of using a fleet of balloons to beam high-speed internet in remote areas of the world and was shut down after nine years because Google couldn't find a sustainable business model and partners.

However, it was not sufficiently clear why it was shut down and Tech Crunch called its closure "surprising," because a year before, it had gotten approval from the Kenyan government to provide commercial connectivity services.

In Project Loon, Google had replicated the information it received from the CIA through the FOA, but what was different was that Google used its advanced artificial intelligence and big data analytics to maneuver the balloon, according to Mills.

"The Chinese spy balloon had maneuvering capability, which is interesting. So did the Chinese rip-off Google, which borrowed from CIA? Curious question!" he said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Google for comment.

Mills thinks that the Chinese were clearly conducting surveillance over specific U.S. strategic sites.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that they were over the three ... existing missile wings," said Mills, adding that the United States roughly maintains 450 Minuteman III missiles on alert at three different missile wings. "So roughly 150 missiles each at Malmstrom Montana Air Force Base, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota—which also has a bomber base—then Francis E. Warren in Wyoming."

The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range, according to the Defense Department website, and the American intercontinental ballistic missile force has remained on continuous round-the-clock alert since 1959. The Minuteman III missiles make up the most responsive leg of the nuclear triad.

"The Chinese were clearly conducting surveillance. They were exploiting gaps and seams in our air surveillance, our air picture. They clearly were doing that, and they were clearly collecting information and it also looked like the trackway went over Strategic Command Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska," said Mills.

He suspects that the Chinese balloon was a spy operation and while it was over Nebraska, the Chinese were spying on the underground facilities.

"They were clearly doing electronic signals collection, perhaps imagery, perhaps measuring intelligence—all forms. Believe me, they probably had all kinds of different little sensors and subsensors collecting everything. So there's no question; they can call it weather all they want," said Mills.

The referenced Feb 4th public statement from the senior Defense Official can be found here: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/

The article from Tech Crunch, being surprised about Google shutting down Project Loon, can be found here: https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/21/google-alphabet-is-shutting-down-loon-internet/

[Sir Slash]

So the Chinese stole our tech so they could use it to steal more of our tech. It's kind of like we are spying on ourselves and the Chinese are just the middle men. They're probably worried our Poo Poo Platters are superior to theirs.

[JasonPratt]

But are their Fang Fangs superior to ours??

.....I'm thinking probably not, but I don't have any experimental data. 

[Sir Slash]

I've been suspicious ever since General Tso got involved selling his chicken over here. Chicken should be kept strictly demilitarized with the exception of Col. Sanders of course.

So, what's the thinking on how long one of the Spy Balloons could remain aloft? Indefinitely? Or do they have to come down sometime and if so, how would the Chi Comms keep their tech out of anyone's hands that found the thing?

[JasonPratt]

Wait, he was from Kentucky, so which side of the War was Colonel Sanders on?! Should KFC be canceled for reparations!? Would their primary customer base agree or complain about putting them out of business...?

(Man, suddenly I've got a great idea for a series of memes... Too bad I'm lazy and not that artistically inclined.)

....relatedly, now I'm sad again that the nearest KFC went out of business several years ago. I wonder if I can find an excuse to drive farther to get one of their chicken sandwiches which I've never yet somehow tried. (I did try Wendy's a few months ago, at last. Could have been the crew preparing it that night, but Mom and I agreed it was trash-tier, which surprised me greatly.)

(And thus I somehow looped the topic back around to the title of this thread!)