According to a former federal intelligence employee, it is unlikely that a Chinese company would have provided full satellite communications coverage of the United States. The technology found in the confiscated balloon corresponds to a patent granted in 2022 to researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Aerospace Information Innovation Research Institute in Beijing. This institute has known ties to China’s military. Newsweek, who was briefed on the report, mentioned that the patent, titled “A high-altitude balloon safety control and positioning recovery device and method,” included a short-burst messaging module called Iridium 9602.
Iridium, the manufacturer of the module, is a global satellite communications provider based near CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia. The balloon also contained communication systems from Iridium and technologies from four other American companies: Texas Instruments, Omega Engineering, Amphenol All Sensors Corporation, and onsemi. Additionally, equipment from at least one Swiss company was also found on the balloon.
Iridium stated that it is challenging to regulate how its technology, some of which can be purchased online for as little as $150, is acquired and utilized. Jordan Hassim, Iridium’s executive director for communications, mentioned that they do not support their products being used inappropriately.
The balloon was taken down off the coast of South Carolina in February 2023 and was revealed to be approximately 200 feet in height and weighing thousands of pounds. There were indications that the balloon might have been equipped with explosives for self-destruction, as disclosed by the US North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Despite the findings, Chinese authorities maintained that the balloon was simply a harmless weather-research airship that had strayed off course. A representative from the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., reiterated this explanation, stating that the airship, designed for meteorological studies, had unintentionally drifted into US airspace due to uncontrollable meteorological conditions.
