The United States can bring down the Chinese surveillance balloon currently flying eastward across the country by shooting it with a laser, which would cause it to gradually descend without inflicting serious damage to civilians on the ground, according to an aerospace specialist.
The Defense Department previously ruled out shooting down the balloon, which was first spotted earlier this week in Montana, saying that its size could cause a debris field large enough to harm Americans.
But Art Thompson, CEO of California-based company Sage Cheshire Aerospace which provides stratospheric balloon launching and research services, believes that a “semi-controlled descent” could be a solution. He was previously the technical director of the Red Bull Stratos program, which in 2012 smashed records for the highest-ever skydive, an endeavor that included the world’s largest manned balloon….