Balloons vs. satellites: Popping some misconceptions about capability and legality - Breaking...

The saga of the Chinese spy balloon, and its subsequent Feb. 4 shoot down off the coast of South Carolina by an American F-22 fighter, has resulted in a lot of hot air floating on the public airwaves, including a maelstrom of misleading statements and speculation.

For example, some in the US have questioned why China would use a balloon to spy, when the People’s Liberation Army operates an array of sophisticated intelligence gathering satellites — a question fed by China’s assertion the balloon was designed simply to gather weather data over the ocean and drifted off course by accident.
while satellites now are the go-to platform for gathering intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), balloons still have a niche role, and in fact can do some things better than satellites.
“As far as the intelligence value of balloons over satellites, there is indeed some value. Balloons and high altitude aircraft can image things from a much closer distance and can dwell over an area for a longer time than low Earth orbiting satellites (which are typically gone in a couple of minutes),” explained Brian Weeden. To cover a single area consistently, a nation would need at least a small constellation of satellites all taking turns as they fly by.