The recent shooting down of the High-Altitude China Balloon, got me thinking; Manufacturers of high-altitude balloons, have been known to build-in a self-destruction protection if the balloon veers of course. For example. if the balloon veers off course by >1km, a self-destruction sequence is initiated, to ensure no sensitive data gets into the wrong hands. This type of test is easily supported with a GNSS Simulator.
Why did something like this not happen?
Any input from the PNT community about how to protect a high-altitude balloon OR how to protect sensitive data on the ground or surrounding area from being captured?
@serge.malo Or perhaps that was precisely the flight path the balloon was meant to take.
As we have heard in the news, several weather balloons entered US airspace a few years ago. Now comes the news that the Pentagon failed to detect them.
It is not difficult to imagine that a foreign power may have been emboldened by previous attempts and sought to repeat the mission.