We owe the CCP a debt of gratitude for showing us a weakness in our defenses we had no idea about. Better yet, it cost us nothing but a bit of embarrassment. I thought it was clever of them to hit where we ain’t lookin: balloons.
We about know every rocket that launches around the globe. The US alone launches dozens of weather balloons every day, plus amateur & scientific balloons.
Our tracking systems ignore balloons as not a threat.
The CCP declared itself a “near arctic” country a while ago (only 7k miles away). Since the ice melted, they’re pretty desperate to get in on the acrid gold rush: ores, rare earth minerals, open new shipping lanes. China is a relatively new space nation. I suspect they might not have good satellite coverage in the arctic yet. The fact that this balloon flew over the continental US might have been a fluke. But once discovered, what are their options? Jettison the load & hope we don’t find it?