Big White Balloon in the Sky

On January 28^th, 2023, China sent over a spy balloon over into the United States stratosphere. According to the New York Post, the balloon was over 200 feet tall and the length of a regional jet. President Biden was against shooting the balloon down over US land because he believed it to be dangerous to civilians and wanted to wait till it was over the water.

This balloon first entered our country through Canada and then kept moving across the sky untouched according to CBS news. The spy balloon lingered over Montana for a while and then high tailed its way over to the East Coast. The intelligence that they had attached to the balloon was capable of tapping into our systems which is not a good sign for privacy.

According to the New York Times, The Chinese spy balloon had an antenna attached to it that is used to locate communications devices and basically listen in to them.  After it was shot down right beside the South Carolina Coast, they discovered that most of the electronics were carried in the balloon payload, which hung from under the balloon. Most of the wires and the physical balloon were floating at the top of the ocean so they were easy to retrieve but the rest of the debris sunk to the ocean floor. The FBI is going to examine the materials at their laboratory in Quantico.

Along with the Chinese spy balloon, there was also three other random flying objects that posed a threat to society. These objects were flying a lot close to the ground than the balloon which is why they were shot down much faster than it. The government officials made sure to shoot them down when they were flying over water so damage would be minimal, and civilians would not be harmed. One of the objects was the size of a small car and the other was an octagonal shape. Our government is still trying to figure out if these objects were connected to the balloon and the Chinese spy program.

The Chinese government has accused the United States government of sending spy balloons into their atmosphere, but this accusation has been shut down by the US immediately. There government is trying to flip the attention and blame on the United States. According to News Week, the Chinese government believes that there have been more than 10 American balloons that caused them a security brief. Wang Wenbin says that the United States needs to give them an explanation. While we deny that there was any United States balloon in Chinas airspace, China did not deny their involvement which the balloon. They believe that our decision to shoot down the balloon was an “overreaction”. “The U.S. needs to be careful not to pull a muscle while flexing so hard,” said Wang.

Thankfully with the balloon being shot down we have nothing to worry about for now, except for the threat that it will happen again and the fact that the balloon can travel so far without being dealt with.