Last time I talked about this, I was stupid enough to think that we have some way of generating helium. We do not.

It is a finite source, and we have no way to renew it. Other than waiting on mother nature to make some more.

https://rockymountainair.com/blog/how-is-helium-extracted/

Where Is Helium Found?

Where on earth is helium found? Wherever large deposits of uranium are located, Helium will also be found. Most of the world’s Helium comes as a byproduct of decaying uranium and fossil fuels. Today, the world’s Helium supply relies on reserves in the United States, the Middle East, Russia and North Africa. There are only 14 liquid Helium refineries in the world, half of which are in the United States. The rest are in Qatar, Algeria, Australia, Russia and Poland. The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been responsible for over half of the world’s Helium supply, which is located in Amarillo, Texas, but is expected to go offline in 2021.

Are We Running Out of Helium? The BLM Helium reserve is located in the Texas panhandle, stretching through Oklahoma and Kansas. While the reserves have taken millions of years of radioactive decay to cultivate, the BLM has taken nearly 100 years to deplete the supply. It was established in 1925 and is expected to run out by 2025. However, the BLM has until September 2021 to sell all of its federally owned assets, which includes plant facilities, crude Helium pipelines, gas wells, maintenance stations and storage systems. According to gasworld, these assets will be sold in auctions or sealed bids to public or private parties. During the transition, the plant will at least be shut down temporarily, greatly affecting the Helium market across the world.

On top of that, plastic doesnt contain helium. This is why after a few days your floaty balloons drop. Its not that the helium is "used up" its diffusing through the space between atoms.

The helium atoms are very tiny — so tiny the random motion of the atoms eventually lets them find their way through the material of the balloon through a process called diffusion. Some helium even finds its way through the knot that ties off the balloon. Neither helium nor air balloons deflate completely.

You can contain it, in something like metal. But then it becomes to heavy to float with helium.

Also a neat fact, we cant recover helium because it basically bleeds into space.

Once helium is released in the atmosphere, it will continue rising until it escapes into space, making it the only truly unrecoverable element.

So, how do these satellites stay afloat for so long with just rubber balloons then?

Ideas?

Even the chinese spy balloons dont stay up forever.

How long will my balloons float with helium? Though many factors can influence the duration time of a balloon, normally an inflated latex balloon with helium should last 18 to 24 hours. Foil helium balloon can retain for much longer, often remaining inflated for 2 to 5 days.

I imagine they were some kinda metal lined balloons.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/china-spy-balloon-time.html

China’s spy balloon drifted for 7 days across the U.S.: A Timeline

Prolly only took a day or two to get from china to alaska.

Pay attention to this comment.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-were-suddenly-spotting-spy-balloons/

Since last week, government representatives have announced that, among the many balloons in our skies, some may have been Chinese spying platforms. “At least since 2018, there does seem to seem to be this broad Chinese balloon surveillance program,” says Carla Martinez Machain, a professor of political science at the University at Buffalo. According to the State Department, China’s balloon surveillance program goes well beyond the U.S., targeting 40 countries on five continents.

The only reason peopled noticed this one was the size.

The surveillance balloon that brought this program to national attention was easily detectable—so large that civilians managed to take photos and videos of it from the ground. It was widely estimated to be the size of three school buses. “It’s not very stealthy,” West says. “The payload underneath it was about the size of a small plane, so it … looks like a plane on the radar.”

So they needed a balloon the width of 3 school busses to carry a payload the size of a plane. Maybe what a couple thousand pounds?

If satellites were being carried by balloons, we would see them.