this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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'Chinese spy balloon' was 'crammed' with US hardware (www.theregister.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Blasted from the sky in February, device never transmitted photos, videos, or radar data it collected, officials say

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I don't buy that it didn't send data back to China. That's a little too much to believe.

[–] breadsmasher 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Given the distance from China, and assuming it had no satellite communication hardware, are there any other ways data could have transmitted that sort of distance?

Sincerely wondering/asking

[–] jrs100000 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Connect to a cell phone tower on the ground and transmit encrypted file blocks over the Internet.

[–] breadsmasher 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Good suggestion! Had not considered. Does the range go high enough though from cell towers?

[–] jrs100000 2 points 2 years ago

Not on a standard handheld set, but with an amplifier and a large antenna I doubt it would be an insurmountable problem, especially since most of the data transfer only needs to go one way.

[–] dystop 2 points 2 years ago

Yeah that's a good question. I can't imagine the plan was for the Chinese to actually physically retrieve the balloon to get the data...