2023-04-17 05:23:16
In February, a Chinese balloon with high-altitude surveillance capabilities flew over the United States, before being shot down by missiles over the Atlantic Ocean.
At the time, not much was known regarding the balloon, but a new set of leaked Pentagon documents has revealed some details regarding the issue.
The leaked reports indicated that this balloon, and up to four other “spy balloons” like it, contained a feature known as “synthetic aperture radar,” which can transmit images of inside certain objects, according to the Washington Post.
US intelligence agencies recorded the findings because the balloon, which officials dubbed Killeen-23, an apparent reference to 1940s gangster Donald Killeen, was equipped with the capacity to generate up to 10,000 watts of solar power, enough to power an entire house.
Synthetic aperture radar fires bursts of electromagnetic energy at an object on Earth, then the sensor records the wavelength of energy it receives back, according to NASA. These sensor readings allow the radar to show images of any bodies and objects under the energy beam.
The leaked documents showed a “negligence” by the US authorities in dealing with these Chinese “spy balloons”, and indicated that other types are still of unknown location, flying over the US airspace.
Secrets of American national security
- 10 days ago, a new batch of classified documents appearing to detail US national security secrets appeared on social media.
- The first group, which was circulated on sites such as Twitter and Telegram, bears the date of the first of March and seals indicating its classification as “secret” and “top secret.”
- The leaking of such sensitive documents is highly unusual and would automatically lead to an investigation.
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