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@dalfen it can't.
#Balloon or spy plane gives 50x more signal strength. 100x more dwell time. 5000x #SignalToNoise. Plus 1/10th the time of flight (for #MITM and active #sigint or jamming). Countermeasures are expensive.
And 100x more #propaganda and diplomatic leverage. US used to allow Russian #SpyPlanes to surveil our nuke silos (per SALT and other treaties) almost monthy. Public didn't get to see them so nobody cared.
It didn't hover at all, did it? I'm still trying to figure that out.
No doubt propaganda and diplomatic leverage is key.
Great point about the countermeasures being expensive. I hadn't thought of that. Seems those measures would be expensive in many ways, not just monetarily.
@dalfen Balloons do nothing but hover or float. Balloons pick a wind current by adjusting launch location and time. Then they just ride it. Winds are 50-100 kph up there. At 40 km high that means a #balloon is overhead for 25-50 min (40km/100kph).
Satellite is 250km high, zips by at 30,000 kph. So it's overhead for less than 0.5 min (250km/30000kph * 60min)
Check out Wikipedia on #WeatherBalloons and Low_Earth_orbit (LEO) scale diagram. Or ask #amateur #OSINT person.
@hobs I mean did it stay over any particular spot for a prolonged length of time indicating it was directed by humans and not just the wind?
I will check out that article in a bit, thanks!