Balloon expert explains the challenges of shooting down China’s suspected spy balloon

Earlier this month, a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted complete overmuch of nan continental United States earlier an F-22 subject combatant pitchy changeable it down disconnected nan eastbound coast. The arena has put a monolithic strain connected nan already-fragile U.S.-China relations, pinch China maintaining that nan errant balloon was simply collecting upwind data. Shooting down nan balloon, Beijing said, was an “overreaction.”

The incident has thrown an unexpected spotlight connected stratospheric balloon technology. High-altitude balloons themselves are not new: successful fact, location are upwards of thousands of balloons operating successful nan stratosphere each day, Near Space Labs CEO Rema Matevosyan explained successful an question and reply pinch TechCrunch. But it’s not each time that 1 is changeable retired of nan sky, Top Gun-style.

Near Space Labs, an American institution founded successful 2017, operates a commercialized fleet of high-altitude balloons. Near Space’s balloons – arsenic good arsenic nan thousands of different upwind and Earth study balloons that presently float astir nan stratosphere – are equipped pinch various payloads depending connected their ngo purpose. The expertise to switch retired payloads makes balloons a remarkably elastic level for Earth observation, Matevosyan said.

She was hesitant to conjecture what accusation nan Chinese balloon whitethorn person been capturing – “let’s hold for nan information to beryllium declassified connected nan sensors,” she suggested – but she did statement that nan Chinese balloon, and its payload, was notably larger than nan galore thousands of upwind balloons that transportation atmospheric sensors. The size of nan payload connected nan Chinese balloon, which U.S. officials said was astir nan size of 3 schoolhouse buses, could propose that location were aggregate types of sensors, she said.

There are besides challenges pinch shooting down an entity astatine specified a precocious altitude. The stratosphere is overmuch thinner than nan little regions of nan atmosphere, and while you could popular nan balloon pinch a pin if you sewage adjacent capable – well, it’s intolerable to get that adjacent fixed nan altitude limitations of commercialized planes. Military jets for illustration nan F-22 are not engineered simply to transportation missiles, but their unsocial shapes are optimized for maximum aerodynamic efficiency, speed, and a lift/mass ratio, Matevosyan explained. According to nan Department of Defense, nan F-22 fired nan Sidewinder rocket astatine an altitude of 58,000 feet; nan balloon was operating astir 60,000-65,000 feet, truthful nan rocket didn’t person to recreation very acold crossed nan stratosphere.

“The aerial is very thin,” Matevosyan said. “The stratosphere is person to Mars’ ambiance than Earth’s atmosphere. It’s really very analyzable to navigate. […] You really request a level because you request very unchangeable platforms to beryllium capable to nonstop nan missile.”

The large mobility – 1 that neither TechCrunch nor Matevosyan tin reply – is, why sprout down this balloon? Why now? The Pentagon said that “instances of this benignant of balloon activity person been observed antecedently complete nan past respective years.” No uncertainty America spies connected China successful turn. Given that, galore are near wondering why Washington decided that now was nan clip to tie a statement successful nan sand. Whether nan maneuver will indelibly escalate relations betwixt nan 2 countries, aliases extremity up conscionable being different move successful nan Superpowers chess match, remains to beryllium seen.