How does a spy balloon work and how is it different from a satellite? | DW News

China has condemned the U.S. military’s decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that flew over the U.S. The United States shot down the balloon on Saturday - creating a diplomatic and political storm. The Pentagon says it was a platform for espionage. China warns there may be repercussions, and the balloon was nothing more than a civilian weather balloon blown off-course.
But how likely is it that the balloon the US shot down is a civilian weather balloon? And why would China favor the use of a balloon over that of a satellite. DW spoke to two experts to find out.

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[kireikotomine]

It just "happened" to go over a US nuclear weapons facility. If it was just a weather balloon, China would not have an issue for anyone shooting it down as it clearly went off course and they can easily make more of them. No country has an issue with countries shooting down weather balloons if it would go off course. The sheer size of the balloon is ridiculous, as there are no other weather balloons of this size in other countries. If the Chinese government is getting upset over it, that just shows how silly their excuses are.

[tjr-tt]

It’s so thoughtful of China to be concerned about the weather conditions in the US 😊

[iliavko]

This "weather balloon" is like a "pizza" truck with a huge sattelite dish on top being parked outside White House or something 😅😂

[WnDsR]

Why would there be 'reprecusions' for shooting down a stray weather baloon. At that point it's just debris as it obviously isn't monitoring the intended area.

[drtracking]

I think they are not asking the right questions.
Ask China
Why would a "weather balloon" need such a huge solar array capable of supplying power to 3 homes?
If it's just "Civilian Weather balloon ", who issued and received the international permits to fly over international airspace ( Japan, USA, Canada ) ?
Over 1, 000 Weather balloons are launched every day and they can be tracked, There is a webpage for that, why was that one and the other not in the list.
If China cares much about international rights, why no inform of such simple things as a weather balloon?

[TheRealStructurer]

I obviously don’t have access to communication between China and US, but IF it was a weather balloon that went off course, did China contact US to say so?

[joewj]

A chinese weather balloon that just happened to drift over a u.s. nuclear weapons facility. Yea ok.

[reting]

"You shot an insignificant, civilian weather balloon. Now prepare for retaliation!" 🤣

[daniellecrevier]

If that is only a weather ballon, why is China taking this to such a level. Also, if they had a ballon as such, would they just ignore it?

[theldun]

China would have declared war if the U.S. had flown one of these over their land!

[Kannot]

These espionage incidents between China and US are not so rare. I wonder why this is all public now

[billabong-znet]

I don’t see why they’re so upset china would take the same action if there was a US balloon over Chinese airspace

[maxxibro]

If it is just the weather balloons then why is China so angry lol

[ThomasBensler]

plot twist: it was actually a weather balloon (troll level expert)

[shouse]

If it is/was a spy balloon, how would they have thought they'd get away with it? Seemed like it was easy (too easy) to detect.

[meejinhuang]

The US tore down all Huawei cell equipment so this is the alternative to intercept US cellular communications.

[ohoiboi]

it's that kid checking the weather with his binoculars pointed at you in your house from your lawn... saying he had no control over his own feet...

[andreasklindt]

If it were indeed a weather balloon China would've said something in advance to not alarm the US. Something diplomatic like "sorry guys, we lost a science experiment. It will enter your airspace accidentally on this and this course. Can you please retrieve it for us? Thanks."

/edit: typos corrected

[peacefulheart]

The Chinese balloon was in American air space. So, the USA can do whatever they want with the Chinese balloon 🎈

[TheBhumbak]

Why would they employ such visible means of espionage ?