Why did China choose a balloon for its US ‘surveillance op’?

Much speculation has been made over the purpose of the balloon, with China stating it is ‘largely for meteorological data’ and the US claiming it was a spy balloon flying over areas where nuclear warheads were siloed. But one less explored issued is, with all these satellites and drones reaching greater heights of development, why did China, above anything else, decide to use a balloon, a seemingly archaic aerial contraption, for its alleged spying activities? 

Assessing the altitude 

Although these aerial devices share many things in common (floating above earth being the main one) they also differ vastly in many respects too. To start, with, let’s look at altitude.  

A military drone can fly above 15km, an impressive height. 

Yet this balloon in particular could also reach heights of 18km, with other balloons of this calibre reaching 42km. 

And a surveillance satellite usually operates in two fields – low earth orbit (2,000km) and geosynchronous orbit (36,000km); far above both drones and balloons.  

So by this metric, it’s clear to see satellite wins. So that must mean the deciding factor to pick the balloon wasn’t height, or at least, height alone. 

Come fly with Xi! 

But it’s not all smooth sailing (orbiting) for surveillance satellites, as both orbits it operates in experience issues. The low orbit satellite, although closer to the Earth and therefore gets a good view, is dramatically affected by the gravitational pull – meaning it does one orbit around the earth every 90 minutes or so. Which at that distance, turns out to be quite fast in terms of taking clear photographs. The geosynchronous orbit satellite does move slower, however, it is far away, so image quality suffers as a result. Plus, to get a satellite to space is no small feat, as it will need a rocket to launch it up there. 

So, of the earthlier aerial vessels, why was a drone dropped for a balloon?  

“Drones provide great ground observation as well long-distance surveillance,” COO of SKY-DRONES Yuri Stelmakh tells Electronic Specifier. “The images taken here can be very good dependent on the sensors used and the use of a gimbal, regardless of the higher speed it may be travelling at.” 

Yet despite this good surveillance capabilities,Yuri highlights what edge a balloon may have over a drone for this specific circumstance. “Drones are usually battery or petrol hybrid powered, and the drone needs to spend some energy to keep flying,” Yuri explains. “And that's why all these aircraft are limited in the flight hours.” Drones typically use a mixture of battery and fuel power to fly, and that fuel has to be refilled by the aircraft landing. 

“But a balloon is another story because it doesn’t rely on a power source to stay afloat.” The structure of a balloon is much simpler than a drone, with this device found believed to be a plastic sheet filled with gas. “So that's why the balloon can hover over some specific location and provide you almost unlimited time for surveilling whatever you want. That’s likely why it was used,” Yuri concludes.

Ballooning tech  

Although the balloon itself seems rudimentary in using a limited supply of gas to stay afloat instead of a continuous power source, a number of pieces of tech can be attached aboard. Surveillance balloons are generally equipped with cameras, sensors and radars, which point down at the ground and are used to gather information. With these requiring a lower amount of power to operate than what's needed to keep a drone in the sky, all of these can be powered by solar panels attached to the aircraft. Yet despite being powered by solar, these on-board cameras can still allow sophisticated photographs of what's down on the Earth's surface to be taken and can even use infrared to observe at night. A State Department official had even later stated they believe the balloon "was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations" to monitor US communications.

Due to its simple make up, a balloon can be a cost-effective option over a drone.Its slow-moving nature and relative closeness to the ground allows it to take good quality images like the drone, however, over a longer period of time - with officials believing this balloon to be part of a fleet had flown over "more than 40 countries across five continents."Yet, being a balloon means it does suffer from a lack of aerodynamics and therefore control, so it is hard to accurately navigate through the skies, which China claim is the reason it flew over sensitive areas. Yet since the US balloon saga, reports have surfaced that a number of these alleged spy balloons have now been spotted around the world in what the US dub a 'global surveillance campaign'. So despite a balloon's drawbacks, it looks like China had settled on the idea they were fit for purpose, whatever that purpose may be.