Chinese Weather Balloons, and Should You Worry About Them?

[Worsaer]

Do you remember that feeling in your gut when the 2nd jet hit the other tower? I just experienced an odd flashback feeling when the Pentagon stated they are following a second balloon over "Latin America". Probably not a big deal - it was just a bad feeling in the gut.

 

[bobby_hamill]

the female adult that was killed along with the children was pregnant her husband had gone to notify the local
police about the find when the bomb went off. I read where one Japanese balloon was found as far east as Tennessee !

A minimum diameter rocket with a P motor could bring the balloon down.
I wonder if the balloon is filled with Hydrogen or Helium. If it is Hydrogen that would cause one heck of an explosion
if exposed to a spark

 

[Zeta]

Well you guys are smart.... just think.... small guidance package, 40 or 50 thousand newton seconds, wildman nose cone.... launch date in North Dakota .... things that make you go ...HMMMMMmmmm

 

[bobby_hamill]

according to ADS-B exchange.there is an Raven-Aerostar balloon at 61,000 feet near Macon Ga as we chat

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

 

[cwbullet]

I will be surprise if we do not shoot it down.

 

[Steve Shannon]

According to the news it was visually seen above Kansas City, Mo.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

The Russians put up Sputnik just because they could and they knew it would F_ck with the American psyche. Maybe this is the Chinese version.

Being former USAF 1984 to 1990 Elmendorf AFB AK. Hight of the Cold War. Personnel Readiness, Battle Staff Prepardness, made daily troop availability reports for over 5000 personal to Alaskan Air Command, secret clearance, typed secret orders for Air Force and Navy attachment.

I think shooting it down could be a bad idea. Monitor its path, let it go, or capture it. We dont know what it is.

 

[cwbullet]

According to the news it was visually seen above Kansas City, Mo.

Accord to the most recent reports, there is a second balloon.

 

[hobie1dog]

you know with our current technology that we know exactly what the Descent rate would be with the appropriate winds, if we put X number of holes in the top of the balloon, which would be super easy to do without blowing anything up, and we could get it down and know exactly what it is in the cargo area, and then there would be no questions at all.

 

[cerving]

Ahem ... hold my cup of tea:

Nice head-banging cover... but I still like the Nena version better.

 

[cerving]

Accord to the most recent reports, there is a second balloon.

99 of them?

 

[dmaaero]

Thats a differant balloon near Macon, Ga

 

[David Schwantz]

Hey Steve, just launch a rocket at it

 

[bobby_hamill]

dmaaero​

those balloons that came over the NC/VA line were not Chinese they were Raven-Aerostars built and released in the USA
2 of the 3 drifted directly over my home near the NC/VA line

 

[bobby_hamill]

The one near Macon GA is a Raven-Aerostar

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Accord to the most recent reports, there is a second balloon.

Crap. Thats just great. I am really hoping this is psychological warfare.

 

[cwbullet]

Crap. Thats just great. I am really hoping this is psychological warfare.

Me too

 

[bjphoenix]

Could it be reached with a LOC Vulcanite?

 

[hobie1dog]

Where's Jim Jarvis when you need him?

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Start with a Who approves a waiver to shoot down a balloon? I mean for fun. I know this current issue is a military. But, what do the “rules” say about a rocket taking out a harmless ballon? Remember when a TV show and some fellow rocket dudes tickled the rules with less than approved launch angles. And I think one of the field owners kicked the production crew off his property. Shooting things down willy nilly is probably not a good idea.

 

[cwbullet]

Could it be reached with a LOC Vulcanite?

If you can, I will nominate you for some sort of award.

 

[Voyhager3]

It’s supposed to float over my area tomorrow, I might run a “experiment”.

 

[Matt_The_RocketMan]

 

[Matt_The_RocketMan]

Question of our time is, is WW3 going to be started over a Balloon? I dunno but that sounds very silly if you ask me… in all reality this should of never made public news, the US defense should of tracked this from day one, and subsequently shot it down as soon as it reached US airspace, end of story… but no, now we have to sit on our hands as a “weather Balloons” violates our airspace and the US doesn’t react the way it should… President Xi is probably thinking “hell if they cant defend their own airspace, with this much debate, why should we be concerned about Taiwan?”

 

[Matt_The_RocketMan]

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Right now the remote bases I took care of in AK are looking better and better. Shemya, King Salmon, Galena, Thule Greenland and my beloved Wassila, here I come!

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Well, Wassila isnt a remote. But I had alot of fun there!

 

[Peartree]

Worth noting amid discussions of "just shoot it down."

When a weather balloon went rogue almost 25 years ago, fighter jets fired 1,000 rounds at it and couldn't bring it down​

https://www.businessinsider.com/runaway-weather-balloon-fighter-jets-history-2023-2

 

[bwayne64]

I nominate this guy for Balloon Force Commander.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Worth noting amid discussions of "just shoot it down."



https://www.businessinsider.com/runaway-weather-balloon-fighter-jets-history-2023-2

If I were required to bring it down (remember it’s the size of three school buses) I would use a piloted drone (think cruise missile for target practice) and just pilot it through the balloon and to a safe crash site, assuming the drone could survive the entanglement.
Unfortunately, it’s no longer above the sparsely populated western states so it’s probably not able to be targeted until it’s beyond the eastern seaboard.
This does give our folks a longer chance to study the thing.