Best pics so far of the impact
Hard to say what was hit, but the arms with the sensors, solar panels and possibly antennae and steering/propulsion quickly dropped away from the balloon.
"How fast would it be going when it hits the ocean?", one might ask.
Free online Terminal Velocity calculator with which you can calculate the maximum velocity of an object falling through air. ➤ The calculator takes into account air resistance (air drag), but does not account for the air buoyancy, which can be considered negligible in most free fall scenarios...
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Hard to say, is my official answer.
Will be interesting to see what gets recovered (knowing full well it will never be disclosed)
We had our best Sigint assets stalking it, although being nearby and being perfectly positioned to intercept data may be two different things. I saw some highly directional antennas in one similar picture, which I can't find at the moment.
Something similar to this:
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Perhaps the "propulsion" was simply some small DJI drone style motors/props for aiming the antennas at a PRC satellite?
This is a 2020 spy balloon over Japan
Put drone motors/props at the ends of the long axis, the antennas are on the perpendicular short axis. Think bow thrusters on a ship to keep the overall orientation precise to within a few MOA (mrad???)
The narrow beam antennas are more efficient than an omnidirectional antenna and harder to intercept.
There is very much which can be obtained from an autopsy of the payload, although one might consider China expected this one to be intercepted, and not put their best gear on it.
I genuinely hope the AF got a lot of very, very,very high resolution images and signatures from the contraption while it was aloft.
WWIII is going to be technically very challenging.