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Comment by infocollector | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know the comparison between these things in the US:

1. How much does it cost to take off an airplane that shoots a balloon?

2. How much does it cost to shoot a balloon with the aircraft that can shoot it?

3. How much does it cost to build a balloon that has Software Defined Radio+camera and a transmitter/a battery+solar panel for energy+a SoC? (My guess is that this is < $1000)

Why not just send a (< $1000) low cost drone to kill these?

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Up until a certain scale, the cost is roughly zero. The planes fly regardless of the balloons, the missiles are periodically replaced even if unused. I'd guess that most of the costs related to the balloons are generated in Washington.

This is dramatically under selling the sophistication of the balloon. Zoom into the payload from the u2 shot and you'll see this is more akin to a floating radio tower than a simple commodity tv tuner turned sdr. The entire craft and payload are likely over a million dollars and as mentioned, the additional costs for the US destroying it are likely close to 0 if used en lieu of already mandatory training flight hours.

60,000 feet is a little high for a low cost drone is it not?

Yes. Looking at https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/standard-atmosphere-d_604..., the atmosphere is about 9% as dense at 60,000ft compared to sea level. While you get some drag advantages, you're going to have serious trouble with both lift and thrust using conventional "low-cost drone" tech up there.

Quadrotors are right out for a number of reasons, but a purpose-built fixed wing might be possible although likely not for under $1000. You'll need massive wings and some kind of propulsion system (likely hydrocarbon-based) that can suck in a huge amount of the thin atmosphere to try to get what little oxygen is available. The prevailing winds at altitude can be moving quite fast, so you'll need an airframe that can handle those forces as well as a propulsion system that can generate enough thrust to overcome those headwinds.

> Why not just send a (< $1000) low cost drone to kill these?

Where can I buy this for < $1000 ?

because a low cost drone has trouble ascending to 18,000 m with enough ammo and maneuverability to take out an object size half the Statue of Liberty in a controlled way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident#...

The costs are just numbers. Overreacting to the point of shooting hobby club balloons is priceless.

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