Sum Ting Wong - China Balloon update

[WhatExit?]

To those who said "it's just a balloon" or "they can get more info from their satellites" or "the government said it was not a threat" - none of those were or are true.

The balloon "was operating with electronic surveillance technology capable of monitoring US communications" and "the US has assessed that little new intelligence was gleaned by the Chinese balloon operation because the Chinese appeared to stop transmitting information once the US learned of the balloon, in addition to US measures to protect sensitive intelligence from China’s spying operations"

"what they have recovered from the shot-down balloon is beneficial to US intelligence" - "the balloon would give the Chinese better photos and signals collection than satellites, as well as a better ability to steer and hover longer over collection targets"

"the administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China or even a military conflict"

Of course Mitt Romney showed his true colors again...But Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN he believes the US made right decision to wait before shooting it down. “I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care."

More here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/politics/spy-balloon-technology/index.html

 

[hallett21]

What’s the reason a gunship or fighter jet couldn’t fire a few rounds into it?

 

[f12517]

"the administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China or even a military conflict"

Of course Mitt Romney showed his true colors again...But Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN he believes the US made right decision to wait before shooting it down. “I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care."

More here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/politics/spy-balloon-technology/index.html

Fuck this shit right here...why the fuck are we worried about provoking their asses...? Fuck them, if we had a president with a pair we'd have shot down ALL their overinflated condoms flying over the world. Biden is a pussy! And so is Romney.

 

[Waterjunky]

That would be a clear message if we had a real president. Knock them all out over everywhere except over the motherland.

 

[TPC]

Look, just so long as I can still get generators, impact sockets and 4 in one $1 screwdrivers at Harbor Freight and Tsingtao in bottles at Jimmy Chews Likker store I'm good with the whole incident.

 

[RiverDave]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

 

[TPC]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

Raising and lowering it's altitude, they can control that.

"Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The winds blow from west to east in jet streams but the flow often shifts to the north and south. Since these hot and cold air boundaries are most pronounced in winter, jet streams are the strongest for both the northern and southern hemisphere winter.
Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air. It's why the dinks launched it this time of year." - Wikipedia

As far as simply shooting it down the Brits had to figure out a way to eventually shoot down highly flammable Hydrogen filled Zeppelins that were bombing London in WW1.
Shooting didnt work they had to devise some other method and eventually figured it out but it didn't always work.

Blowing the whole fucking balloon up worked pretty good I'd say. Made for good spectator drama. Charge it to the same account that the Blue Angels are funded from.

 

[Taboma]

Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The winds blow from west to east in jet streams but the flow often shifts to the north and Since these hot and cold air boundaries are most pronounced in winter, jet streams are the strongest for both the northern and southern hemisphere winter.
Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air.

Raising and lowering it's altitude, they can control that.

As far as simply shooting it down the Brits had to figure out a way to eventually shoot down Hydrogen filled Zeppelins that were bombing London in WW1.
Shooting didnt work they had to devise some other way and eventually figured it oud.
Blowing the whole fucking balloon up worked pretty good I'd say.

I'm curious in a gas filled balloon how you bleed off the lighter than air gas (Helium ?) then re-inflate the balloon. Would simply transferring it from the envelope to a storage tank accomplish the same thing as venting it, which then eliminates refilling the envelope.

 

[ElAzul]

With all our monitoring I have a hard time believing we were so inept to a spy balloon

 

[Taboma]

This whole story is complete bullshit.
We recover the envelope and some solar panels, not even the main superstructure, and now we know these spy balloons have flown over 40 countries and five continents, and yet we didn't know this until now ?? Nobody else noticed it, no intelligence agencies shared any info, and we weren't already on alert to their existence ?

 

[BingerFang]

 

[500bbc]

To those who said "it's just a balloon" or "they can get more info from their satellites" or "the government said it was not a threat" - none of those were or are true.

The balloon "was operating with electronic surveillance technology capable of monitoring US communications" and "the US has assessed that little new intelligence was gleaned by the Chinese balloon operation because the Chinese appeared to stop transmitting information once the US learned of the balloon, in addition to US measures to protect sensitive intelligence from China’s spying operations"

"what they have recovered from the shot-down balloon is beneficial to US intelligence" - "the balloon would give the Chinese better photos and signals collection than satellites, as well as a better ability to steer and hover longer over collection targets"

"the administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China or even a military conflict"

Of course Mitt Romney showed his true colors again...But Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN he believes the US made right decision to wait before shooting it down. “I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care."

More here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/politics/spy-balloon-technology/index.html

Fuck Pierre Delecto...

 

[RogerThat99]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

I read somewhere that it had multiple propellers on electric motors, powered by the solar panels. It was steerable, and could push back against the wind to stay in place. It sort of hovered over Montana and took it's time. Once it was all over the news, I read that it kind of sped up and headed on a more direct course to the coast (maybe trying to get over international waters.).

I don't know how it changed elevations.

 

[WhatExit?]

Video stills of the Chinese Spy Balloon after it was hit with an AIM-9X anti-air missile fired from a F-22 Raptor on Feb. 4, 2023.

The Raptor, based at Langley Air Force Base, used a single AIM-9X Sidewinder, fired from 58,000 feet in the air, to shoot down the balloon that was operating at 62,000 feet, a senior military official told reporters on Saturday afternoon.

The remains of the surveillance balloon, about the size of three school buses, is spread over a seven-mile debris field in shallow water in the Atlantic, a senior military official told reporters.

3 Navy Warships, FBI Now Hunting for Wreckage of Chinese Spy Balloon off South Carolina - USNI News

A trio of Navy warships, service divers and the FBI are on the hunt for the wreckage of a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday by an Air Force F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina, Defense Department officials told reporters Saturday. “The balloon, which was...

news.usni.org

"It's possible that being spotted was the whole point. China might be using the balloon to demonstrate that it has a sophisticated technological capability to penetrate US airspace without risking a serious escalation. In this regard, a balloon is a pretty ideal choice," said Arthur Holland Michel from the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Nevertheless, the experts point out that balloons can be fitted with modern technology like spy cameras and radar sensors, and there are some advantages to using balloons for surveillance - chief of which is that it is less expensive and easier to deploy than drones or satellites.

The balloon's slower speed also allows it to loiter over and monitor the target area for longer periods. A satellite's movement, on the other hand, is restricted to its orbital pass.

 

[Smitty7]

This comes to mind.

 

[ChumpChange]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

These guys found a way.

 

[Smitty7]

These guys found a way.

View attachment 1197683

Thats a pointed balloon. You can steer them. Round balloons are stupid.

 

[MK1MOD0]

Raising and lowering it's altitude, they can control that.

"Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The winds blow from west to east in jet streams but the flow often shifts to the north and south. Since these hot and cold air boundaries are most pronounced in winter, jet streams are the strongest for both the northern and southern hemisphere winter.
Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air. It's why the dinks launched it this time of year." - Wikipedia

As far as simply shooting it down the Brits had to figure out a way to eventually shoot down highly flammable Hydrogen filled Zeppelins that were bombing London in WW1.
Shooting didnt work they had to devise some other method and eventually figured it out but it didn't always work.

Blowing the whole fucking balloon up worked pretty good I'd say. Made for good spectator drama. Charge it to the same account that the Blue Angels are funded from.

All the Brits had to do was to use incendiary ammunition. They used a Sopwith Camel towed on a barge to wait for them in the English Channel. It took the Camel about an hour to make it up to the Zeppelin, and when it lit it up with the incendiary rounds it went flamming to the ground. That was the last Zeppelin flight sent against Britain . Easy peazy.....

 

[Nordie]

A balloon traveling at a relatively slow speed vs what a fighter has to fly at I really don't think it's as easy of a target. Not to mention I don't think it would really be putting off much of a heat signature where it would be easy to track with modern systems.

They knew about this thing for a while and could have gotten a handle on it sooner though.

 

[Taboma]

Video stills of the Chinese Spy Balloon after it was hit with an AIM-9X anti-air missile fired from a F-22 Raptor on Feb. 4, 2023.

The Raptor, based at Langley Air Force Base, used a single AIM-9X Sidewinder, fired from 58,000 feet in the air, to shoot down the balloon that was operating at 62,000 feet, a senior military official told reporters on Saturday afternoon.

The remains of the surveillance balloon, about the size of three school buses, is spread over a seven-mile debris field in shallow water in the Atlantic, a senior military official told reporters.

3 Navy Warships, FBI Now Hunting for Wreckage of Chinese Spy Balloon off South Carolina - USNI News

A trio of Navy warships, service divers and the FBI are on the hunt for the wreckage of a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday by an Air Force F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina, Defense Department officials told reporters Saturday. “The balloon, which was...

news.usni.org

"It's possible that being spotted was the whole point. China might be using the balloon to demonstrate that it has a sophisticated technological capability to penetrate US airspace without risking a serious escalation. In this regard, a balloon is a pretty ideal choice," said Arthur Holland Michel from the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Nevertheless, the experts point out that balloons can be fitted with modern technology like spy cameras and radar sensors, and there are some advantages to using balloons for surveillance - chief of which is that it is less expensive and easier to deploy than drones or satellites.

The balloon's slower speed also allows it to loiter over and monitor the target area for longer periods. A satellite's movement, on the other hand, is restricted to its orbital pass.

Well you'd think they'd pick a slightly less conspicuous color --- like blue being one example

 

[77charger]

These guys found a way.

View attachment 1197683

Currently over the az desert 10 miles east of Vicksburg rd exit in some windy conditions

 

[MK1MOD0]

A balloon traveling at a relatively slow speed vs what a fighter has to fly at I really don't think it's as easy of a target. Not to mention I don't think it would really be putting off much of a heat signature where it would be easy to track with modern systems.

They knew about this thing for a while and could have gotten a handle on it sooner though.

Really, ask any taliban fighters who were smoked in vehicles. Not hard at all for an aircraft to hit slow moving targets. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

[LuauLounge]

They programmed the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile
Target Mode: Chinese Weather Balloon.

 

[4Waters]

They programmed the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile
Target Mode: Chinese Weather Balloon.

That's a setting

 

[Danger Dave]

At roughly 60,000 feet in altitude it was able to record intelligence 600 miles in any direction. That's a shit ton of signals intel that can be gathered.

 

[Nordie]

Really, ask any taliban fighters who were smoked in vehicles. Not hard at all for an aircraft to hit slow moving targets. Quite the opposite in fact.

You're absolutely correct, my bad for asking questions or pointing out that a weather balloon isn't putting out a heat signature that's easily traceable. I completely forgot what forum I'm on.

 

[MK1MOD0]

You're absolutely correct, my bad for asking questions or pointing out that a weather balloon isn't putting out a heat signature that's easily traceable. I completely forgot what forum I'm on.

Um ok. I wasn’t trying to be a dick. . Just saying they can visually target , or target by radar. . The guns are very accurate by using the pipper ( gunsite).

 

[Taboma]

At roughly 60,000 feet in altitude it was able to record intelligence 600 miles in any direction. That's a shit ton of signals intel that can be gathered.

I have no idea what they can get from 60K feet, that isn't more readily available from LEO at 500K feet. Or couldn't be accomplished in a far more stealth manner than a huge white balloon visible to the naked eye. "Oh damn, they spotted it"

 

[Drew]

Um ok. I wasn’t trying to be a dick. . Just saying they can visually target , or target by radar. . The guns are very accurate by using the pipper ( gunsite).

What is a puppet gunsite?

 

[MK1MOD0]

What is a puppet gunsite?

Pipper. It’s a moveable dot that the computer places on the target. On modern fighters it on the heads up display ( HUD ).

 

[stephenkatsea]

I’m not at all a supporter of the current administration. But, some of the blatant political swords being thrown from the right are ridiculous. Jesse Watters, FOX News, said tonight the balloon should have been shot down when offshore the Aleutians. He said even though the water was cold and up to 18k ft deep, “They have wet suits, don’t they”? Then he smirked. WTF? How deep does he think USN divers can work? What would the winter sea surface condition be for support vessels? He was speaking ‘out of his ass’, with no knowledge of the particular situation. He then spoke of the S Carolina recovery. He said “debris was currently dumbling across the ocean bottom and would likely never be recover”. Wanna bet?? It’s only 50 ft of water, with relatively benign surface conditions for support vessels. Our USN will sweep that like sweeping your living room floor. I like Watters, I like FOX and I’m conservative. But, Jesse was blowing shit out of his wrong orifice. I am concerned about - 1) did we truly stop the balloon from transmitting back to China? 2) what is it they need to do at 60k feet they can’t do from a satellite? Potential EMP capability? 3) if there were previous balloons over TX and FL, from where were they launched? How long did it take them to approach those positions?

Shockingly, I believe the location of shoot down and the mode/method of debris recovery chosen by this admin is correct. Or we could be up in the Aleutian’s waiting on weather in thousands of feet of water in the winter time, or attempting to access and search remote terrain and mountains, or hoping we get to the debris prior to the news media/general public and hoping the High Explosives believed to be on the platform didn’t cause a problem for those on the ground. Just sayin’

 

[MK1MOD0]

I’m not at all a supporter of the current administration. But some of the blatant political swords being thrown from the right are ridiculous. Jesse Watters, FOX News, said tonight the balloon should have been shot down when offshore the Aleutians. He said even though the water was cold and up to 18k ft deep, “They have wet suits, don’t they”? Then he smirked. WTF? How deep does he think USN divers can work? What would the winter sea surface condition be for support vessels? He was speaking ‘out of his ass’, with no knowledge of the particular situation. He then spoke of the S Carolina recovery. He said “debris was currently dumbling across the ocean bottom and would likely never be recover”. Wanna bet?? It’s only 50 ft of water, with relatively benign surface conditions for support vessels. Our USN will sweep that like sweeping your living room floor. I like Watters, I like FOX and I’m conservative. But, Jesse was blowing shit out of his wrong orifice. I am concerned about - 1) did we truly stop the balloon from transmitting back to China? 2) what is it they need to do at 60k feet they can’t do from a satellite? Potential EMP capability? 3) if there were previous balloons over TX and FL, from where we’re they launched? How long did it take them to approach those positions?

Shockingly, I believe the location of shoot down and the mode/method of debris recovery chosen by this admin may have been correct. Or we could be up in the Aleutian’s waiting on weather in thousands of feet of water in the winter time, or attempting to access and search remote terrain and mountains, or hoping we get to the debris prior to the news media/general public and hoping the High Explosives believed to be on the platform didn’t cause a problem for those on the ground.

Couldn’t disagree anymore. Letting it traverse the entire US before shooting it down is simply weak. They should have taken it out in Alaska where almost no one lives. The idiots in charge need to be called out.

 

[pronstar]

I absolutely love the fact that the main rebuttal of this administration when called-out for being weak is “they flew over when Trump was president, too!”

 

[stephenkatsea]

Couldn’t disagree anymore. Letting it traverse the entire US before shooting it down is simply weak. They should have taken it out in Alaska where almost no one lives. The idiots in charge need to be called out.

It’s all about - As reported, we had jammed the ability for balloon package to transmit. That is/was a major consideration for letting it transverse PORTIONS of the US. If that wasn’t true, then take it down, not in 18k ft of Aleutian water. But in a reasonable area of potential recovery, where risk to property and those below was at a minimum. Then shoot any A Holes racing to grab debris (I only wish that was a potential, but it’s not).

 

[MK1MOD0]

Alaska is just about a desolate as it comes. Would have sent a much better message. And made recovery easy. Send in a few heavy lift helos, and sling it out of there.

 

[caribbean20]

I don’t know, but wouldn’t more of the equipment attached to the balloon survive better, and thus susceptible to more thorough analysis, if landing in liquid water than dry land? If yes, waiting for it to float over warmer, shallow water seems plausible to me.

Also, if we we jamming the signal, taking more time to observe, if there wasn’t significant risk, also seems plausible. None of us without top secret clearance know exactly the extent of OUR surveillance activities. Shoot first and ask questions later could put our human and equipment assets at risk too.

Not a fan of the current admin, but I like to keep an open mind.

 

[hallett21]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

Adjusting altitude for different jet streams is the easiest. Then add in any propulsion systems.

Put another way shouldn’t all spy balloons have the same trajectories?

 

[MK1MOD0]

I don’t know, but wouldn’t more of the equipment attached to the balloon survive better, and thus susceptible to more thorough analysis, if landing in liquid water than dry land? If yes, waiting for it to float over warmer, shallow water seems plausible to me.

Also, if we we jamming the signal, taking more time to observe, if there wasn’t significant risk, also seems plausible. None of us without top secret clearance know exactly the extent of OUR surveillance activities. Shoot first and ask questions later could put our human and equipment assets at risk too.

Not a fan of the current admin, but I like to keep an open mind.

Instead of blowing it into a thousands of pieces, they could have hit it with cannon rounds and brought it down in a much less destructive manner. And by doing it over Alaska, they could Have preserved it much better than they did.

 

[caribbean20]

Instead of blowing it into a thousands of pieces, they could have hit it with cannon rounds and brought it down in a much less destructive manner. And by doing it over Alaska, they could Have preserved it much better than they did.

Good point.

Another question I have is at what altitude is surveillance acceptable (i.e., low altitude satellite orbit), and what’s not (i.e., a balloon or aircraft at 60,000 feet)? Anything outside the earth’s atmosphere is fair game for spying? Who writes the rules?

 

[Dog]

I don’t know, but wouldn’t more of the equipment attached to the balloon survive better, and thus susceptible to more thorough analysis, if landing in liquid water than dry land? If yes, waiting for it to float over warmer, shallow water seems plausible to me.

Also, if we we jamming the signal, taking more time to observe, if there wasn’t significant risk, also seems plausible. None of us without top secret clearance know exactly the extent of OUR surveillance activities. Shoot first and ask questions later could put our human and equipment assets at risk too.

Not a fan of the current admin, but I like to keep an open mind.

dirt compresses water doesn't. Montana , it may have hit a cow...

 

[spectras only]

Good point.

Another question I have is at what altitude is surveillance acceptable (i.e., low altitude satellite orbit), and what’s not (i.e., a balloon or aircraft at 60,000 feet)? Anything outside the earth’s atmosphere is fair game for spying? Who writes the rules?

helium balloon can only fly up to 104 ,000 feet. Satellites are about twice that. I think this china balloon was operating between 50-60,000 to 80,000 at slow speeds across to have better pictures than satellites at 200,000 at 7000 mph. So, the china balloon was traveling in the atmosphere above US territory. Should have been shot down over Alaska, where it could have killed a Kodiak bear or moose.

 

[Reddy Too]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

This balloon had incredible navigational properties.

 

[rrrr]

I'm curious in a gas filled balloon how you bleed off the lighter than air gas (Helium ?) then re-inflate the balloon. Would simply transferring it from the envelope to a storage tank accomplish the same thing as venting it, which then eliminates refilling the envelope.

Gas balloons that accomplished around the world flights had multiple pressurized tanks containing reserve gas (helium or hydrogen, but almost always the latter) attached to the gondola, which allowed flexibility in choosing altitudes and enabled long distance flight.

Steering is accomplished by monitoring wind currents at various altitudes and using them to direct the flight path. Altitude is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the amount of gas in the envelope.

Sport gas ballooning uses only the gas contained in the envelope at launch. The balloon is launched with a calculated excessive buoyancy and releasable ballast. The gas (again, mostly hydrogen) is released to lose altitude, and gas is also released to counteract altitude gain as it is expanded by solar energy.

To increase altitude or counteract nighttime temperature cooling and resultant altitude loss, ballast is released. When the ballast is depleted, the balloon must land. A skilled balloonist can fly a gas balloon for thousands of miles.

My late friend Richard Abruzzo was considered the one of the greatest long distance gas balloon aeronauts in the history of the sport, and one of the most skilled hot air balloonists in the world. Richard and his teammate Carol Rymer Davis tragically died in 2010 when they encountered severe thunderstorms while flying over the Adriatic Sea during the 54th Gordon Bennett Cup race. I miss you, Richard.

Richard Abruzzo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The Chinese balloon had pressurized gas containers and used instrumentation and controls to perform altitude change functions automatically. Its handlers used precision weather reporting from satellites and commercial weather services to alter the balloon's altitude and thus direction of flight.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

If we were jamming its signals (raspberry jam?) that act in itself is giving them Intel. How we jam and from where it is coming from is valuable Intel in itself. Stupid to make it that easy.

Should have never let it make landfall over any US soil, period.

 

[Jed-O]

How do you steer a balloon?

RD

Ask me after several outer harbor cocktails. I can drive fuckin anything!

 

[Nordie]

What the Chinese recorded

Julie McKechnie Fisher on Instagram

74K likes, 951 comments - azwinos on February 6, 2023

www.instagram.com

 

[Taboma]

Gas balloons that accomplished around the world flights had multiple pressurized tanks containing reserve gas (helium or hydrogen, but almost always the latter) attached to the gondola, which allowed flexibility in choosing altitudes and enabled long distance flight.

Steering is accomplished by monitoring wind currents at various altitudes and using them to direct the flight path. Altitude is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the amount of gas in the envelope.

Sport gas ballooning uses only the gas contained in the envelope at launch. The balloon is launched with a calculated excessive buoyancy and releasable ballast. The gas (again, mostly hydrogen) is released to lose altitude, and gas is also released to counteract altitude gain as it is expanded by solar energy.

To increase altitude or counteract nighttime temperature cooling and resultant altitude loss, ballast is released. When the ballast is depleted, the balloon must land. A skilled balloonist can fly a gas balloon for thousands of miles.

My late friend Richard Abruzzo was considered the one of the greatest long distance gas balloon aeronauts in the history of the sport, and one of the most skilled hot air balloonists in the world. Richard and his teammate Carol Rymer Davis tragically died in 2010 when they encountered severe thunderstorms while flying over the Adriatic Sea during the 54th Gordon Bennett Cup race. I miss you, Richard.

Richard Abruzzo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The Chinese balloon had pressurized gas containers and used instrumentation and controls to perform altitude change functions automatically. Its handlers used precision weather reporting from satellites and commercial weather services to alter the balloon's altitude and thus direction of flight.

I understood using altitude with the stratosphere to adjust direction change, but I wasn't clear on how the gas was released and refilled into the envelope in order to cause a significant weight change to control other than a general trajectory change.

It seemed as if a pressurized storage tank's weight would vary as the gas was released and refilled, and that all you were doing is moving it from one container to another. Perhaps the answer is in the pressurization or depressurization differential between the tank and super pressurized envelope.
Of course there remains the need to adjust for day-night temperature variations.

I've read that the super pressurized balloon that NASA back in 2011 was constantly being improved upon, especially in regards to perfecting trajectory control, they just didn't elaborate much on the mechanics.
They long term goals included doing very similar to what apparently the Chinese are doing, but at close to double the altitude, well over 100,000', this would certainly serve to make the balloon less obvious to observers as was the case with this not so stealth Chinese one.
Thanks

 

[ChumpChange]

View attachment 1197720 Currently over the az desert 10 miles east of Vicksburg rd exit in some windy conditions

I saw it coming into Pebble Beach when I was leaving on Friday. Probably never lifted off on Saturday and Sunday the weather was so bad.

 

[spectra3279]

Look, just so long as I can still get generators, impact sockets and 4 in one $1 screwdrivers at Harbor Freight and Tsingtao in bottles at Jimmy Chews Likker store I'm good with the whole incident.

Gotta replace those 10mm sockets from somewhere.

 

[Chili Palmer]

The balloon could have been punctured to let the gas escape slowly instead of destroying it, let it land in an open area in the Alaskan tundra, thus giving us access to a mostly undamaged payload.