They were later pardoned, and their lawyer called the whole matter “balloonacy.”
In 2012, balloon enthusiasts around the globe were again transfixed as Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian daredevil, rode a helium balloon to an altitude of 128,100 feet, breaking the sound barrier before landing safely back on the ground. That event set a livestream record, racking up some 9.5 million views.
Will Leitch, a novelist and contributing editor at New York magazine who writes about internet culture, said that, given the range of technological options available to dueling superpowers, there was an absurdist element to the idea that a “menacing balloon” could be a harbinger of conflict between the United States and China.
“I understand arguments to the idea that a balloon could have some sort of spying technology and could be threatening to us,” Mr. Leitch said. “Also, I just kind of think it’s weird to be afraid of a balloon.”
“It seems like a prank that someone would pull in the 1920s,” Mr. Leitch added.
Those who have built and studied these balloons say not to be fooled by this one’s steampunk-looking exterior.
The balloon likely masks formidable technology, according to Art Thompson, an aerospace engineer whose company, Sage Cheshire, worked with the Red Bull Stratos team to design and build the 600-foot-tall balloon that pulled Mr. Baumgartner toward the sky.
Mr. Thompson — who was also part of a team at Northrop Corporation that helped design the B-2 Spirit, the so-called stealth bomber used by the U.S. military — studied images of the balloon and said that the one seen over Montana was outfitted with solar panels, a control panel — and, it appeared, a parachute system. Balloons of this type, he said, can be controlled by radio signals and a system that adjusts air compression and, with it, the balloon’s altitude. The crafts can use solar power to collect radio data, communications signals and even phone data.
“You could collect a lot of information from a balloon, and it has a very long reach,” Mr. Thompson said. “They could be collecting a lot of data to analyze for future applications.”
