Good question. This from the Washington Post via MSN. Looks like it's carrying a fair bit of equipment.
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“Balloons offer a few advantages over the use of satellites or drones,” James Rogers, an academic at Cornell and the University of Southern Denmark, who advises the U.N. Security Council on the transnational threat of drones, said in an email.
“Not only are they cheaper than launching satellites into space, but by operating within the bounds of the earth’s atmosphere, closer to the surface, they can obtain better quality images,” he added. The latest generation of balloons are high-tech in their own right, “envisaged as systems that can fly up to 90,000 feet” high, “deploy their own drone systems” and detect incoming missiles.
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Balloons can soar above the range of most planes, Clarke said, and their slow speed means they aren’t always picked up by radar. Additional technology or paint can help to conceal them further.
Balloons also have an advantage over satellites because they are more maneuverable, according to Malcolm Macdonald, a professor and space technology engineer from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. “The motion of a satellite is very predictable, a balloon (or other aircraft) offers the chance for an unexpected overflight, to catch those you are observing by surprise,” Macdonald said in an email. “You might hope to get something you might not see, or hear, from space.”
Satellites can provide high-resolution imagery, Clarke said — but balloons can stay over one area for longer periods than satellites, if the weather permits.
There’s also the cost benefit: A satellite may cost up to $300 million over its lifetime, according to an estimate from 2020; even the most high-tech balloon would be cheaper.
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