What advantage is there to using a high altitude balloon for surveillance? I have to imagine there are some - like longer loiter time over a specific point, maybe better optics because you are still in atmosphere, it's obviously cheaper than launching a satellite - but I don't really know enough about this kind of hardware to say.
Or maybe the point wasn't to actually look at anything, but instead see how the US would respond?
Probably also why such a dramatic response from the US.
Before satillites flew over enemies no one was too sure if they'd be attacked immediately (they weren't).
Whether or not that reveals any non usual background signal of interest is an interesting ponder.
I don’t think the Chinese meant for this balloon to cross the United States. I believe they were testing it for use over other countries or perhaps for use during wartime. Their apology was way too quick for this to have been anything other than a genuine accident.
https://www.economist.com/china/2023/02/03/how-a-balloon-bur...
After your "weighing paint" comment I think you should probably stop talking.
If true, that's unlikely to be a mistake.