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--- transportation:balloons [2023/05/08 05:14] – [Chinese Surveillance Balloon] timb
+++ transportation:balloons [2024/02/27 22:21] (current) – [Balloon - Utah (2024)] timb
@@ Line 114: / Line 114: @@
 https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/02/12/canada-norad-shoot-down-object-kayyem-acostanr-sot-vpx.cnn
+===== Airship =====
+== EXCLUSIVE: Google Founder’s Airship Gets FAA Clearance ==
+Sergey Brin’s Pathfinder 1 can now take to the skies
+Mark Harris - 25 October 2023
+Expect traffic on the 101 highway in Mountain View, California, to be even worse in the days or weeks ahead, as motorists slow down to watch Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s 124-meter long airship Pathfinder 1 launch into the air for the first time.
+IEEE Spectrum has learned that LTA Research, the company that Brin founded in 2015 to develop airships for humanitarian and cargo transport, received a special airworthiness certificate for the helium-filled airship in early September.
+That piece of paper allows the largest aircraft since the ill-fated Hindenburg to begin flight tests at Moffett Field, a joint civil-military airport in Silicon Valley, with immediate effect.
+https://spectrum.ieee.org/lta-airship-faa-clearance
+== The giant hangar poised for an aviation revolution ==
+Airships could offer a much cleaner and quieter alternative for some aspects of the aviation market. In a former airship factory, a new generation are taking shape.
+Mark Piesing - 21st June 2022
+Sergey Brin turned internet search into one of the world’s most valuable businesses more than two decades ago. Now he intends to improve a technology which had its heyday long before he was born.
+Brin and his team of engineers' plan is to do this by reinventing a much older, if improved technology. A new generation of airships – the lighter-than-air craft that don't need conventional airports – will be built in a corner of Ohio which played a unique part in the history of aviation. What's more, if built they will be housed in one of America's most iconic structures, the Goodyear Airdock in Akron.
+Airships could help speed up the delivery of aid in disaster zones, carry air cargo much more cheaply than air freighters, and cut aviation emissions. However, similar projects in the past have struggled to overcome the complex engineering challenges involved, and have either run out of money, or left potential customers disillusioned.
+"Flying an airship is unlike flying any other aircraft because it’s lighter than air and floats, instead of sinks, when you put the power at idle," says Andrea Deyling, a pilot and director of airship operations of Brin’s airship company, LTA Research. "There’s also a sense of wonder people have when they see a lighter-than-air vehicle flying overhead. LTA Research is building a unique airship and I can't wait to get into the actual aircraft and fly it."
+https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220621-the-giant-hangar-poised-for-an-aviation-revolution
+== The world’s largest aircraft breaks cover in Silicon Valley ==
+Sergey Brin-backed airship startup LTA Research begins flight testing today
+Mark Harris - 7 November 2023
+As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
+The airship — its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway — has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.
+“It’s been 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” LTA CEO Alan Weston told TechCrunch on the eve of the unveiling. “Now we must show that this can reliably fly in real-world conditions. And we’re going to do that.”
+A series of increasingly ambitious flight tests lie ahead, before Pathfinder 1 is moved to Akron, Ohio, where LTA Research is planning an even larger airship, the Pathfinder 3. The company eventually hopes to produce a family of airships to provide disaster relief where roads and airports are damaged, as well as zero-carbon passenger transportation.
+https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/08/the-worlds-largest-aircraft-breaks-cover-in-silicon-valley/
+== The World's Largest Aircraft Breaks Cover in Silicon Valley ==
+Posted by msmash on Wednesday November 08, 2023 06:40AM from the up-next dept.
+An anonymous reader shares a report:
+<blockquote>
+As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The airship -- its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway -- has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.
+</blockquote>
+https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/11/08/1432253/the-worlds-largest-aircraft-breaks-cover-in-silicon-valley
@@ Line 170: / Line 232: @@
 ====== Chinese Surveillance Balloon ======
+===== Taiwan 2024 =====
+== Three Chinese balloons float near Taiwanese airbase ==
+Also: Remember that balloon over the US last February? It might have used a US internet provider
+Laura Dobberstein - Thu 4 Jan 2024 10:15 UTC
+Four Chinese balloons have reportedly floated over the Taiwan Strait, three of them crossing over the island's land mass and near its Ching-Chuan-Kang air base before disappearing, according to the Taiwan's defense ministry.
+An appearance of a similar Chinese balloon caused quite a stir in the US last February (see sidebar).
+Up, up and away
+Last week, CNN reported that an American intelligence assessment found the balloon that was shot down in US airspace last year used a commercial US internet provider to send navigation and location data to China – a report that has been at least partly disputed by other media.
+The balloon was found to be full of readily available American hardware.
+Following the incident, the US Department of Commerce added six entities to its black list "for their support to China's military modernization efforts, specifically the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) aerospace programs including airships and balloons and related materials and components."
+Beijing denied that the balloon's entry into US airspace was intentional – an argument that was initially challenged as the device had a propulsion system and steering capability.
+The Pentagon eventually revealed the balloon did have intelligence gathering equipment, but had not relayed any information back to China, nor collected information while over the United States.
+The three that passed over land held altitudes between 12 and 23 kilometers. The balloons were accompanied by People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and navy (PLAN) vessels, according to the Ministry. Two of the aircraft crossed over into Taiwanese airspace, and by Thursday, the ministry had detected six ships.
+"The Chinese military uses mission aircraft, ships and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor and respond," wrote the governemnt org.
+https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/three_chinese_balloons_float_near/
+===== United States 2023 =====
 == The Pentagon Claims a Chinese Surveillance Balloon Has Been Floating Over the U.S. for Days ==
@@ Line 485: / Line 582: @@
 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/14/chinese-spy-balloon-leaked-documents/
+== American Technology Found in Chinese Spy Balloon Debris ==
+An investigation into the Chinese spy balloon shot down in February has reportedly discovered that American technology was used to collect images and data.
+Nikki Main - 29 June 2023
-===== Selfie / U2 =====
+The Chinese spy balloon captured images and video surveillance using American technology, U.S. officials reported on Thursday. The balloon, which was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this year, likely didn’t transmit the information back to the Chinese government based on a preliminary investigation, although the investigation is still ongoing.
+In February, the Chinese government denied the balloon was intended for surveillance, claiming instead that it was a weather balloon that had blown off course. But when the U.S. military retrieved the debris, it found technology suited to capture information from the ground including tools that are designed to gather and transmit data.
+https://gizmodo.com/american-technology-found-in-chinese-spy-balloon-debris-1850591288
+== Chinese balloon that US shot down was 'crammed' with American hardware ==
+Blasted from the sky in February, device never transmitted photos, videos, or radar data it collected, officials say
+Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 29 Jun 2023 17:03 UTC
+It's been months since "spy balloon" fever gripped the United States, but the headline-grabbing flying object – alleged to have been deployed by China – is back in the news. Preliminary findings from the US inspection of its wreckage show a whole bunch of commercially available hardware made in the States.
+That in and of itself isn't new info – US officials were briefed in February, shortly after the balloon, shot down off the eastern coast of the US, was recovered, and were told it contained western-made parts with English writing on them.
+What is new is the extent to which the balloon was driven by US hardware, which unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal was "crammed" with off-the-shelf components that could have easily been purchased online.
+In addition to US-made hardware, the balloon's gondola was also reportedly equipped with specialized Chinese-made sensors as well as equipment capable of collecting photos, videos, radar data and other info for transmission to China. If true, that means China's claims the balloon was an off-course weather monitoring device are, as many assumed, a fabrication.
+https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/29/chinese_spy_balloon_crammed_with/
+== China's Spy Balloon Program Appears to Have Been Suspended, US Officials Say ==
+Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday September 16, 2023 06:24PM
+An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:
+<blockquote>
+China appears to have suspended its surveillance balloon program following a major diplomatic incident earlier this year, when one of the country's high-altitude spy balloons transited the United States, multiple sources familiar with US intelligence assessments told CNN. US officials believe that Chinese leaders have made a deliberate decision not to launch additional balloons since the one over the US was shot down by American fighter jets in February, the sources said. The US has not observed any new launches since the episode occurred... The US intelligence community believes that Chinese Communist Party leaders did not intend for the balloon to cross over the United States, and even reprimanded the operators of the surveillance program over the incident, one of the sources said...
+</blockquote>
+https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/16/2242228/chinas-spy-balloon-program-appears-to-have-been-suspended-us-officials-say
+== Was China's 'Spy Balloon' Just Blown Off Course? ==
+Posted by EditorDavid on Monday September 18, 2023 04:34AM
+China appears to have suspended its global surveillance balloon program after a balloon was spotted drifting over the United States in February.
+But now an anonymous reader shares this report from CBS News:
+<blockquote>
+Seven months later, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells "CBS News Sunday Morning" the balloon wasn't spying. "The intelligence community, their assessment — and it's a high-confidence assessment — [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon," he said.
+So, why was it over the United States? There are various theories, with at least one leading theory that it was blown off-track. The balloon had been headed toward Hawaii, but the winds at 60,000 feet apparently took over. "Those winds are very high," Milley said. "The particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude..."
+</blockquote>
+https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/17/2143251/was-chinas-spy-balloon-just-blown-off-course
+== The bizarre secret behind China's spy balloon ==
+David Martin - Updated Mon, September 18, 2023 at 9:04 AM PDT
+It was surely the most bizarre crisis of the Biden administration: America's top-of-the-line jet fighters being sent up to shoot down, of all things, a balloon – a Chinese spy balloon that was floating across the United States, which had the nation and its politicians in a tizzy.
+Now, seven months later, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells "CBS News Sunday Morning" the balloon wasn't spying. "The intelligence community, their assessment – and it's a high-confidence assessment – [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon," he said.
+So, why was it over the United States? There are various theories, with at least one leading theory that it was blown off-track.
+https://news.yahoo.com/bizarre-secret-behind-chinas-spy-132621162.html
+== The secret U.S. effort to track, hide and surveil the Chinese spy balloon ==
+Nearly a year later, Biden administration officials say the threat was exaggerated, but U.S. military officials contend that too little has been done to detect high-altitude spy balloons.
+Dec. 22, 2023, 6:18 PM PST - Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee
+WASHINGTON — On a Friday evening last January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the Air Force commander in charge of defending American airspace from foreign intrusion, called President Joe Biden’s top military adviser, Gen. Mark Milley.
+U.S. intelligence officials had just notified the general that for roughly 10 days they had been tracking a mysterious — and enormous — object flying over the Asia-Pacific, VanHerck told Milley. The object had crossed into U.S. airspace over Alaska and VanHerck said he planned to dispatch military jets to fly alongside it and assess what it was.
+The previously unreported Jan. 27 phone call between Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and VanHerck, the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, set off an eight-day scramble inside the Biden administration. American officials faced an unprecedented challenge: a Chinese spy balloon the size of three school buses flying across the continental U.S.
+The spy balloon exposed an increasingly brazen China’s competitive advances miles above the Earth and brought the most critical relationship in the world to one of its lowest points in recent history.
+https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/secret-us-effort-track-hide-surveil-chinese-spy-balloon-rcna130991
+== U.S. intelligence officials determined the Chinese spy balloon used a U.S. internet provider to communicate ==
+An American intelligence assessment found that the balloon used a commercially available U.S. network to communicate, primarily for navigation, U.S. officials say.
+Dec. 28, 2023, 3:22 PM PST - Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee
+WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment.
+The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.
+The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed.
+https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/us-intelligence-officials-determined-chinese-spy-balloon-used-us-inter-rcna131150
+== That Chinese Spy Balloon Used an American ISP to Communicate, Say US Officials ==
+Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday December 30, 2023 07:24AM
+NBC News reports that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. in February "used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment."
+it used the American ISP connection "to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation."
+<blockquote>
+Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.
+The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed. Such a court order would have allowed U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance on the balloon as it flew over the U.S. and as it sent and received messages to and from China, the officials said, including communications sent via the American internet service provider...
+</blockquote>
+https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/12/30/0454238/that-chinese-spy-balloon-used-an-american-isp-to-communicate-say-us-officials
+==== Selfie / U2 ====
 == This selfie above China's balloon was taken over Missouri. Here's how we know that ==
@@ Line 525: / Line 736: @@
-===== Amateur Radio Balloon =====
+==== Amateur Radio Balloon ====
 == Did an F-22 Blow Up an Illinois Club’s Hobby Balloon? ==
@@ Line 936: / Line 1147: @@
 https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/lake-huron-high-altitude-object/index.html
+====== Balloon - Utah (2024) ======
+== The U.S. Military Is Monitoring Another High-Altitude Balloon ==
+Military officials intercepted the balloon over Utah and said it was not a threat to national security.
+Jody Serrano - 23 February 2024
+It seems almost too comical to be true, but this is the world we live in. One year after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that ignited a national frenzy, the military has spotted another balloon in American skies.
+Officials are tracking a high-altitude balloon flying over the Western U.S., CBS News reported on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the balloon was allegedly flying over Colorado and sparked concern among military officials. The military sent personnel to inspect the balloon and concluded that it was not a threat, the outlet stated, although its origin and purpose are still unknown.
+https://gizmodo.com/high-altitude-balloon-spotted-western-us-colorado-1851283135
+== Unidentified balloon belongs to amateur balloonist: US official ==
+Officials previously said the balloon, which is hovering at between 43,000 to 45,000 feet, does not appear to pose a national security threat to the U.S.
+Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains, Megan Lebowitz and Allie Raffa - Feb. 23, 2024, 2:59 PM PST / Updated Feb. 24, 2024, 9:49 AM PST
+The high-altitude balloon flying over the western U.S. is the property of an amateur balloonist, a U.S. official told NBC News Saturday.
+Prior to Saturday, the U.S. military said it was monitoring an unidentified "small" balloon flying at high altitudes over the west, according to two U.S. officials and a defense official.
+A fighter aircraft was sent to observe the balloon after it was spotted over Utah this morning. The balloon, which is hovering at between 43,000 to 45,000 feet, does not appear to pose a national security threat to the U.S., the officials said.
+The balloon is not maneuverable and has a small box-like payload, the officials said.
+https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-monitoring-high-altitude-balloon-west-rcna140275
+== It is a bird, a plane or a Chinese spy balloon? None of the above ==
+One year on, balloon fever remains alive and well in the US
+Brandon Vigliarolo - Mon 26 Feb 2024 16:30 UTC
+Just when you thought the skies over America were finally free of Chinese spy balloons … well they are, at least in this latest case of a mystery object that was spotted while flying over the western US.
+Officials at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) observed the balloon, reportedly floating at an altitude between 43,000 and 45,000 feet, late last week and on Friday scrambled a fighter jet to intercept it to get a closer look. The jet determined there was no threat to US national security, finding it was likely a hobbyist balloon.
+"After yesterday's fighter intercepts, and in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, [NORAD] monitored the likely hobby balloon via ground radars until it left US airspace overnight," the agency said in a statement sent to multiple outlets over the weekend.
+https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/26/norad_scramb/