Apparently there was a U-2 following, er, flying circles around the balloon.
I wonder if they were going for the smallest size, and/or plausible deniability; “It’s only a weather balloon”.
More than a mention U-2 Spy Planes Snooped On Chinese Surveillance Balloon | The Drive
To my knowledge, the U-2 was never retired from active missions. It went from a CIA asset to USAF domain. (I’m sure the CIA gets loaners).
One of its most significant contributions lately is in communications. The F-35 and other US/NATO aircraft speak one language. The super stealthy F-22 couldn’t communicate with the other forces. The U-2 provided that link. F-22 And F-35 Datalinks Finally Talk Freely With Each Other Thanks To A U-2 Flying Translator F-117 Nighthawk is still flying missions as well as opposed to being retired.
Cool.
So, that’s why Bono was at the State of the Union.
99 Red Scare Balloons?
Chinese spy balloon contained technology to monitor communication signals, US says
MSN/CNN
The Biden administration has determined that the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that traversed the United States last week was operating with electronic surveillance technology capable of monitoring US communications, according to a senior State Department official.
Despite the latest revelations about the capabilities of the spy balloon, the Pentagon has insisted since the vessel was first acknowledged publicly that it does not give China capabilities above and beyond what they already have from spy satellites or other means.
“We did not assess that it presented a significant collection hazard beyond what already exists in actionable technical means from the Chinese,” said Gen. Glenn VanHerck, the commander of US Northern Command and NORAD, on Monday.
If true, I don’t understand their motive. Surveillance gaps?
I thought surveillance gap meant that they hadn’t been watching out for balloons.
If that was their motive they did us a favor because we’ll close those gaps now.
Going back to this question, I’ve just heard that a balloon can use air as a ballast, since air is not a lifting gas and can be extracted from the surrounding atmosphere. The air is pumped into a smaller balloon, called a balloonet, which will add to the weight and drag the balloon down. This can be reversed by pumping out the balloonet. Since the solar panels can supply a basically unlimited amount of power, this method can be used almost indefinitely.
Wow. That’s interesting. Really thinking outside the box.
Blimps and dirigibles have been using ballonets since before WWII. They’re not a new idea. Most sporting balloons nowadays use hot air as the lifting gas. But back in the early days hydrogen or helium was tried for balloons. Which mostly used ballonets for lift control.
Is it sad that I keep wondering if the solar panels are going to be reused? I imagine whichever government agency ends up with them could auction them off, panel by panel. Who wouldn’t want a shot-down Chinese solar panel?
Or, more likely after the shoot-down and hard landing, several hundred pieces of a Chinese solar panel.
I wonder if this is all a way to test satellite hardware before going to the expense of launching it into orbit.
If the pieces are small enough, maybe I could afford one. Heck, I’ve got a brick from the California Capitol that was replaced during a refurbishment in the 1970s.
That’s one possible scenario. But I’m guessing the fact the it could be seen with the naked eye heavily influenced official disclosure/messaging to the public.
IMHO, if the balloon was only visible to .gov the public wouldn’t even know about it.
Lots of objects that are visible to the naked eye are unexplained. The fact that no private citizen reports came up until the government announced it speaks for itself. Is it so far fetched that the government was open about this?
Why didn’t Sarah Palin see it from her house? 
I didn’t hear that. Thanks for the info.
-I’m not anti-gov. But I’ve been in a meeting or two. I would think open disclosure would be decided based on how the messaging would look.