See a Rover’s Day on Mars in 10 Seconds

Isaac Schultz
Thu, December 28, 2023 

The Front Hazcam view of Mount Sharp.

What were you doing on November 8, 2023? I couldn’t say for myself, but I can tell you what NASA’s Curiosity rover was doing: sitting still on its 4,002nd day on Mars, taking snapshots of the Martian surface.

Now, mission team members at Jet Propulsion Laboratory have stitched together two series of frames from the rover’s front and rear Hazcams to create a unique video capturing time’s passage on the Red Planet.

Later in the day, the camera’s exposure times are over a minute, which causes noise in the images that look a bit like snow. (We can assure you, it is not snowing on Mars.) Around eight seconds into the Rear Hazcam view, a cosmic ray hit the camera sensor, causing a black splotch in the image.

Other visual artifacts may be due to Martian dust that has settled on the camera lenses over Curiosity’s 11-year tenure on the planet. And though the Hazcam views capture Mars in black-and-white, NASA publishes plenty of color images taken by Curiosity.

Curiosity keeps trudging along on Mars’ surface thanks to the dogged work of NASA engineers. Earlier this year, the rover got a major software update—the first significant one since 2016—which scientists hope will increase its driving speed and reduce wear on its wheels, which may keep the mission active for even more years to come.

Medieval weapon — over 4 feet long — unearthed in town square in Sweden, photos show

Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, December 27, 2023 

People crisscrossed a town square in Sweden. Cars drove through. Birds flew over, occasionally stopping to peck for food.

Underneath the hubbub of modern life, a medieval secret went unnoticed — not anymore.

Archaeological excavations of the Lilla Torg square in Halmstad found 49 graves from the medieval period, according to a Dec. 19 blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. The burials originally rested under a convent that functioned from 1494 to 1531.

One grave stood out from the others: the grave of a very tall, elite man.

Archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a 6-foot-2 man with a longsword resting on his left side, officials said. The sword was well-preserved and measured over 4 feet in length.

Photos show archaeologists holding the huge sword. It appears a bit crusty with brown rust or dirt stuck to it. The darker black-brown of the blade is visible in some sections.

An x-ray image of the sword showed an inlaid decoration of two crosses, archaeologists said. The crosses were likely made of precious metal. A photo shared by the Cultural Environment of Halland on Facebook shows this x-ray.

The remnants of the at least 500-year-old weapon measure about 4-feet-3, but the total length of the sword is unknown, the blog post said.

Swords are rarely found in medieval graves, the Cultural Environment of Halland said in a Facebook post. The presence of a sword indicates that the deceased was an elite or high-class person.

Archaeologists removed the sword, wrapped it up and sent it to a lab for preservation and further study. Excavations at the square are ongoing.

Halmstad is about 270 miles southwest from Stockholm.

Google Translate was used to translate the blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. Facebook Translate was used to translate the posts from the Cultural Environment of Halland.

Factbox-Vietnam's 'bamboo diplomacy' shifts into higher gear
Reuters
Wed, December 27, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: 13th national congress of the ruling communist party of Vietnam in Hanoi

HANOI (Reuters) - Communist Party-ruled Vietnam has upgraded ties with the world's top powers, including former foes, China and the United States, as part of its "bamboo diplomacy", which it has pro-actively pursued since 2021 to navigate rising global tensions.

After a string of deals this year and last, the Southeast Asian country's top partners include the United States, China, India, South Korea and Russia, which for decades has supplied most of Vietnam's military equipment.

Below are details of Vietnam's increasingly dynamic foreign policy approach and its most important diplomatic agreements over the last 12 months.

WHAT IS 'BAMBOO DIPLOMACY'?

A regional manufacturing powerhouse, Vietnam is an increasingly strategic player in global supply chains.

To bolster this position, the country's most powerful figure, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, used in 2021 the imagery of "strong roots, stout trunk, and flexible branches" of the bamboo plant to describe Vietnam's foreign policy approach of having "more friends, fewer foes".

CHINA

Vietnam and China earlier this month agreed to build a community with a "shared future" during a visit to Hanoi by Chinese President Xi Jinping, his first to an Asian country this year.

The two nations signed 36 cooperation documents in areas such as transport infrastructure, trade, security and digital economy, and published a joint declaration with wide-ranging commitments.

China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector, but the two communist countries have been for years embroiled in disputes in the South China Sea - the latest in May. Tensions have subsided somewhat more recently as Beijing's attention has focused on another claimant in the waterway, the Philippines.

UNITED STATES

Vietnam and the United States elevated in September their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level in Vietnam's ranking, and announced closer cooperation on semiconductors and critical minerals during a visit to Hanoi by U.S. president Joe Biden.

The United States, which is the top importer of Vietnam's goods, pushed for the upgrade as part of its strategy to secure uninterrupted access to global supply chains and to contain China in the South China Sea.

JAPAN

Vietnam and Japan in November upgraded their relations to Vietnam's top tier during a visit by Vietnamese president Vo Van Thuong to Tokyo, agreeing to boost security and economic cooperation.

Japanese multinationals, including Canon, Honda, Panasonic and Bridgestone, are among the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

SOUTH KOREA

Vietnam and South Korea elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022 during a visit to Seoul by then Vietnamese president Nguyen Xuan Phuc, focusing on trade, investment, defence and security.

South Korea is the largest source of foreign investment in Vietnam, with Samsung Electronics being the largest single foreign investor in the country where it assembles half its smartphones.

In June the two countries signed 17 additional agreements, including on security and critical minerals during a visit to Vietnam by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

VATICAN CITY

Vietnam and the Vatican agreed in July to have the first post-war resident papal representative in Hanoi during a visit to meet Pope Francis by Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong. The representative was appointed in December.

Home to nearly 7 million Catholics, Vietnam broke relations with the Vatican after the Communists took over the reunited country at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Talks to appoint a papal representative had started in 2009.

TRADING HUB

Vietnam is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic union and has free trade deals with the European Union, Britain, Chile and South Korea. In July it added Israel to its list of free-trade partners.

It is also a member of wider trade pacts, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes Canada, Australia and Mexico, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which includes China and Japan.

WHO'S NEXT?

In 2024, Vietnam is expected to upgrade ties with Australia to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

A visit to the country next year by French President Emmanuel Macron is also being considered, as the former colonial power seeks to boost ties on security and infrastructure development.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

Mexico's weed 'nuns' want to take the plant back from the narcos

Wed, December 27, 2023 


By Sarah Kinosian

(Reuters) - Beneath each full moon on the outskirts of a village in central Mexico, a group of women in nun habits circle around a roaring fire, cleanse themselves with burned sage, and give thanks for the moon, animals, and plants.

Then they inhale deeply from a joint and blow clouds of marijuana into the flames.

Despite their clothing, the women are not Catholic or any other religion. They are part of an international group founded in 2014 called Sisters of the Valley, which has pledged to spread the gospel of the healing powers of cannabis.

In the United States, where around two dozen states have legalized recreational marijuana, the group has also launched a successful small business, selling CBD tinctures, oils and salves online, and raking in over $500,000 last year.

But in Mexico, where a drug war has ravaged the country and Christianity is embedded in society, the image of a marijuana-smoking nun is more an act of rebellion, the women say.

The sisters frequently post on social media, primarily Instagram, where they can be seen caring for cannabis crops, giving workshops, and attending cannabis-related events.

Their product sales are a fraction of that of their U.S. sisters - around $10,000 annually.

While prominent online, the women - five in total - are cautious about giving away too much about the location of their operations. They conduct business out of a two-story concrete false storefront with one finished room.

Because cannabis sits in a legal gray area in Mexico and much of its production is still tied to criminal organizations, they worry police or local gangsters could arrive to threaten or extort them.

On a recent weekend when Reuters visited, the curtains remained drawn. Bundles of marijuana dried in clandestine crevices – hanging from a tucked-away laundry line, or hidden in the stove.

"The Sisterhood is in a totally different context here in Mexico – because of how religious the country is and because of the plant's ties to cartels," said one of the nuns, who uses the moniker "Sister Bernardet" online and asked not to give her name for fear of reprisal. In her main job as a homeopathic practitioner, she prescribes marijuana to her patients with cancer, joint pain and insomnia.

"We want to take the plant back from the narcos," she said.

The Sisters fashion themselves after a lay religious movement, the Beguines, that dates back to the Middle Ages. The group, made up of single women, devoted itself to spirituality, scholarship and charity, but took no formal vows.

The Sisters globally say they wear habits to project uniformity and respect for the plant, but they also know it catches media attention.

Under the guidance of Alehli Paz, a chemist and marijuana researcher working with the group, the Sisters in Mexico grow a modest crop.

They pot plants in old paint buckets and place them in rows between four unfinished concrete walls on a rooftop.

Once grown, the Sisters move the plants to walled-off private gardens they identified with help from supportive older women in the community.

Their participation is limited to weekends they can steal away from their lives. Powered by a seemingly never-ending stream of joints and packed pipe bowls, the women spend time at the farm pruning plants, producing cannabinoid salves or weighing and storing different strains, labeled and dated, in old glass coffee jars.

They also visit others in Mexico City pushing for full legalization in the growing cannabis community, or give workshops that touch on everything from how to make weed infusions to the chemistry behind the plant.

Business potential aside, they argue that the fight against drugs in Latin America has been a failure, leading to widespread violence and mass incarceration.

But in a roughly 75% Catholic majority, conservative country locked in a drug war with criminal groups for nearly 20 years, joining the Sisters has created tension in nearly all of the women's families.

Its founder in Mexico, who calls herself "Sister Camilla" online and declined to give her name, grew up in an evangelical household and left home at 16 due, in part, to her mother's strict religious code, she said. When she started Sisters of the Valley Mexico, the relationship became even more strained.

"It was hard for her to accept," she said. "She had certain ideas, heavily shaped by religion."

But today, after lengthy discussions about the plant and the legalization movement, her mother is pivotal to the group's operations, helping to maintain the farm and offering other logistical support, she said.

For another nun who works as a church secretary, uses the moniker "Sister Kika" and asked her name not be used, the mission is clear. "It's time to put an end to this stupidity," she said.

(Photography by Raquel Cunha; Reporting and writing by Sarah Kinosian; Additional reporting by Andrea Rodriguez; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Secret underground passageways discovered in ruins of 4,300-year-old city in China

Aspen Pflughoeft
Thu, December 28, 2023 

Today, entering the ancient stone city of Houchengzui in northern China means walking carefully through the sprawling ruins. Four thousand years ago, however, entering the city meant getting through multiple defensive walls and overpowering the well-prepared occupants.

Archaeologists have known about the imposing defenses of Houchengzui Stone City for decades — but the ancient city still held a secret.

Houchengzui Stone City is between 4,300 and 4,500 years old with ruins stretching across roughly 15 million square feet, according to a Dec. 28 news release from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology via the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Archaeology Network.

Archaeologists initially found the city in 2005 and began systematically excavating it in 2019, the release said.

During the most recent excavations, archaeologists stumbled on a system of secret underground passageways. They found six intersecting tunnels that functioned as a hidden transportation network.

A partial map of the hidden passageways, the blue dotted lines, labeled TD1 and TD2.

A photo shows a partial map of the passageways. Other photos show a tunnel entrance and a view inside the well-preserved arched tunnels.

An entrance to one of the secret tunnels.

Archaeologists said the tunnels were between about 5 feet and about 20 feet down. Inside, the tunnels were between 3 feet and 6 feet tall and roughly 4 feet wide. Several tunnels passed under the city’s defensive walls and opened to the outside.

A view inside one of the underground passageways.

The secret tunnels added another layer of security to Houchengzui Stone City’s other defenses.

The city had a complex defensive system with three different concentric walls, additional structures along the walls, a limited number of guarded gates, and trenches, the release said.

Archaeologists believe the Houchengzui Stone City design stemmed from its cultural importance of military defense and its strategic location at the edge of an ancient alliance.

Excavations at the site are ongoing.

Houchengzui Stone City is in Qingshuihe County of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and about 300 miles west of Beijing.

Google Translate and Baidu Translate were used to translate the news release from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology via the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Archaeology Network.

Scientists ID mystery killer of decapitated seals found on California beaches since 2016
Pilar Arias
Thu, December 28, 2023 

Scientists have cracked the case of scores of decapitated seals found on northern California beaches since 2016.

Noyo Center for Marine Science's Sarah Grimes investigates marine mammal deaths, and told The Mercury News she suspected a responsible culprit, but needed proof.

"It was so gruesome," Grimes told the Bay Area newspaper. "I was like marine mammal CSI, seeing all the dead pups with their heads torn off, and I’m like, ‘What the heck did that?’"

The headless bodies were found in MacKerricher State Park, where a student at University of California Santa Cruz caught the guilty party in the act.

"We set up camera traps and got one really solid video of a coyote dragging a harbor seal pup and beheading it," Ph.D. student Frankie Gerraty said. "We are pretty confident there has been predation at four sites along the Northern California coast."

Researchers are not yet sharing the video while they continue trying to understand "the seemingly new predator-prey relationship," the Los Angeles Times reports.


Elephant seals lay on a beach near the Point Reyes National Seashore of Inverness in California on May 31, 2023.

Coyotes are appearing more often in the area after being poisoned and hunted by farmers and ranchers for decades.

"This really is nature’s balance," Grimes told the LA Times. "The coyote is not a villain. It’s part of the ecosystem that has been missing for some years."

Scientists are still working to understand why coyotes are only going for the seals' heads, leaving their bodies behind, but believe it could have to do with the nutrition content of seal brains compared to other body parts.

Point Reyes National Seashore in Inverness, California, on May 31, 2023.

Annual closures are currently in place at Point Reyes National Seashore until March 31, 2024, to protect elephant seal pups from disturbance during pupping season, the park's website says.

The seals found decapitated by coyotes are harbor seals, and research will continue into hunting patterns and the impact on the marine animal population.


Scientists solved the mystery of headless seals on California beaches

Katie Hawkinson
Thu, December 28, 2023 at 9:59 AM MST·2 min read

California coasts are teeming with marine life, so when locals encounter dead seals on their beaches, it may be a sad sight but it isn’t necessarily cause for alarm.

But since 2015, beachgoers have reported some disturbing sights: decapitated seal pups, particularly in Mackerricher State Park, around 150 miles north of San Francisco.

Experts were initially worried that a person was behind the deaths, and ecologist Frankie Gerraty told the Los Angeles Times the cuts looked too clean to be from an animal.

But now, Mr Gerraty told the Times that the mystery has been solved: coastal coyotes.

The scientist said that he captured footage of a coyote decapitating a freshly killed seal pup last year. Ecologists knew coastal coyotes scavenged the corpses of dead seal pups, but the footage provided new insight into the coyotes’ behavior.

“It’s obviously gruesome, but at the same time…coyotes and harbor seals are native species,” Gerraty told the Los Angeles Times.

“It could be the restoration of this relationship,” he added.

Mr Gerraty told the outlet that it’s still a mystery why coyotes eat the head and leave the rest of the body, but his theory is that their brains are particularly nutritious — and seal blubber is difficult to bite through.

While it may be a natural part of life, others say this spike could cause seals to change their behavior.

“I think the main challenge for the seals will be that if this becomes a bigger issue, if they start losing a lot of their pups to predation, that they might need to choose different places to have their babies,” biologist Rachel Reid told NBC Bay Area.

Researchers are calling on the public to contact the West Coast Marine Stranding Network, an organization run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to report any marine creatures — particularly seals — stranded on the coast, whether dead or alive.

“We learn so much about ocean health through those stranded animals,” Sarah Grimes, a marine mammal stranding coordinator and educator, told the Los Angeles Times.

Putin ally dies falling from house window, latest in spate of mysterious Russian deaths

Michael Dorgan
Thu, December 28, 2023 a

A Russian lawmaker and ally of President Vladimir Putin was found dead under mysterious circumstances Wednesday after falling from the third floor of his home, Russian state media has reported.

Vladimir Egorov, 46, who was a member of Putin's ruling United Russia party, plunged 30 feet to his death at his home in the town of Tobolsk, located in the western Siberian region of Tyumen Oblast. Media outlet Baza reported on its Telegram channel that Egorov’s body was discovered Wednesday afternoon in the courtyard of a house and that police are investigating what caused his death.

Vladimir Egorov, left, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the latest prominent Russian figure to die under mysterious circumstances after he fell to his death from the third floor of his home.

RUSSIAN OIL EXECUTIVE WHO CRITICIZED UKRAINE INVASION DEAD AFTER REPORTEDLY FALLING OUT OF HOSPITAL WINDOW

Russian news agency TASS also reported that Egorov had fallen to his death, citing an investigative department from the Tyumen region.

Fox News Digital reached out to Russia’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs to confirm the reports but did not immediately receive a response.

The New York Post, citing the 72 news outlet, reported that Egorov may have suffered from heart problems before the deadly fall.

Egorov, who was also a lawyer, was forced out of the city administration in 2016 following a corruption scandal for which he was not convicted, according to the New York Post. He then returned to the political fray.

Many other notable figures in Russia have died from falls since the beginning of the war with Ukraine.

In June, Kristina Baikova, a 28-year-old glamorous vice president of a Russian bank, fell from her 11th floor apartment, while in February, senior Russian military officer Marina Yankina plummeted 16 stories to her death in St Petersburg.

In September 2022, Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Russia's Lukoil oil giant, died after falling from a sixth-floor hospital window in Moscow.

Meanwhile, in August, Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and several of his top lieutenants died when their jet crashed halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In May, Russia's deputy science minister Pyotr Kucherenko, who had allegedly been a private critic of the invasion of Ukraine, died suddenly after falling seriously ill on a flight to Moscow.

In April, top energy boss Igor Shkurko was found dead in his prison cell after he was accused of taking a bribe.

Massive SunZia Wind Project Raises $11 Billion, Starts Building

Josh Saul
Wed, December 27, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- A wind farm and transmission line billed as the largest clean energy project in US history has secured $11 billion in financing and started construction.

Pattern Energy Group LP said Wednesday it closed on financing that includes about $8.8 billion in construction and term facilities and $2.25 billion in tax equity for the 3.5 gigawatt SunZia wind farm in New Mexico and 550-mile transmission line carrying electricity to Arizona. Pattern was bought by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2020.

It took more than 17 years for SunZia to gain approvals and begin building, highlighting the difficulty of building transmission lines in the US. Grid experts say the country needs a huge build-out of transmission to move energy produced by wind and solar farms, but regulatory agencies, local landowners and conservationists can all slow or even stop development.

Bloomberg Businessweek

The first EV with a lithium-free sodium battery hits the road in January

Sodium-ion batteries have lower density but are cheaper and perform better in cold weather.

Will Shanklin
·Contributing Reporter
Wed, December 27, 2023 

JAC via CarNewsChina


JAC Motors, a Volkswagen-backed Chinese automaker, is set to launch the first mass-produced electric vehicle (EV) with a sodium-ion battery through its new Yiwei brand. Although sodium-ion battery tech has a lower density (and is less mature) than lithium-ion, its lower costs, more abundant supplies and superior cold-weather performance could help accelerate mass EV adoption. CarNewsChina reports that the JAC Yiwei EV hatchback deliveries will begin in January.

Yiwei is a new brand in 2023 for JAC. Volkswagen has a 75 percent stake in (and management control of) JAC and owns 50 percent of JAC’s parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG). The Chinese government owns the other half of JAG, making for one of the auto industry’s stranger pairings.


The Sehol E10X, which the new Yiwei EV appears to be a rebranded version of. (JAC via CarNewsChina)

The Yiwei EV appears to be a rebranded version of the Sehol E10X hatchback (above), announced earlier this year. CarNewsChina describes the Sehol model as having a 252 km (157 miles) range with a 25 kWh capacity, 120 Wh / kg energy density, 3C to 4C charging, and a HiNa NaCR32140 cell. When JAC revealed the Yiwei brand in May, it said it would drop the Sehol label and rebrand all its vehicles to either JAC or Yiwei, leading us to this week’s EV reveal. JAC hasn’t yet said whether the Yiwei-branded model will keep the E10X moniker.


In April, JAC showcased a separate EV called the Yiwei 3 at the Shanghai Auto Show. That model launched in June with an LFP lithium battery, promising the sodium-ion variant would launch later.

A (JAC via CarNewsChina)

The new Yiwei EV reportedly uses cylindrical sodium-ion cells from HiNA Battery. JAC assembles the batteries in the company’s modular UE (Unitized Encapsulation) honeycomb structure, similar to CATL’s CTP (cell-to-pack) and BYD’s Blade. The layout can provide for greater stability and performance.

U.S. intelligence officials determined the Chinese spy balloon used a U.S. internet provider to communicate
An American intelligence assessment found that the balloon used a commercially available U.S. network to communicate, primarily for navigation, U.S. officials say.
The Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Mont., on Feb. 1.

Chase Doak / AFP

Dec. 28, 2023, 
By Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment.

The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.

The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed.

Such a court order would have allowed U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance on the balloon as it flew over the U.S. and as it sent and received messages to and from China, the officials said, including communications sent via the American internet service provider.

The company denied that the Chinese balloon had used its network, a determination it said was based on its own investigation and discussions it had with U.S. officials.

NBC News is not naming the provider to protect the identity of its sources.

A National Security Council spokesperson referred questions to the national intelligence director's office. It declined to comment.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said it was a weather balloon that accidentally drifted into American airspace.

"As we had made it clear before, the airship, used for meteorological research, unintentionally drifted into U.S. because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability," Liu told NBC News in a statement. "The facts are clear."

Chinese intelligence officials have covertly used commercially available service providers in various countries in the past, often as backup communication networks, according to multiple former U.S. officials. They frequently seek out encrypted networks or ones with strong security protocols so they can communicate securely, the officials said.

The previously unreported U.S. effort to monitor the balloon's communications could be one reason Biden administration officials have insisted that they got more intelligence out of the device than it got as it flew over the U.S.

Senior administration officials have said the U.S. was able to protect sensitive sites on the ground because they closely tracked the balloon's projected flight path. The U.S. military moved or obscured sensitive equipment so the balloon could not collect images or video while it was overhead.U.S. sailors recover debris from the Chinese surveillance balloon after it was shot down off Myrtle Beach, S.C. U.S. Navy via AP file

After the balloon was shot down on Feb. 4, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, told reporters that the U.S. military and intelligence community had taken exhaustive steps to protect against the balloon's ability to collect intelligence.

“We took maximum precaution to prevent any intel collection," VanHerck said at a briefing. "So that we could take maximum protective measures while the balloon transited across the United States.”

In an exclusive interview this month, VanHerck said he worked together with U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, to reduce the release of emergency action messages to ensure the Chinese balloon could not collect them.

“We took action to put capabilities away, whether that be airplanes, ballistic missiles in our missile fields," VanHerck said. "We limited our emission of emergency action messages that could be potentially collected on."

Emergency action messages, or EAM, are how U.S. leaders communicate with strategic forces all around the world. The messages, which are highly classified, can include directing nuclear-capable forces on response options in the case of a nuclear war.

“Protecting EAM and nuclear command and control communications is of critical importance to the United States,” a senior defense official said.

After the balloon was shot down, a senior State Department official said that it was used by China for surveillance and that it was loaded with equipment able to collect signals intelligence.

The balloon had multiple antennas, including an array most likely able to collect and geolocate communications, the official said. It was also powered by enormous solar panels that generated enough power to operate intelligence collection sensors, the official said.

Defense and intelligence officials have said the U.S. assessment is that the balloon was not able to transmit intelligence back to China while it was over the U.S.

The FBI forensics team that examined the balloon after it was shot down completed a classified report about the equipment it carried, according to multiple U.S. officials. Its findings remain secret and have not been widely briefed.

Federal judges on the surveillance court, where proceedings are held in secret, must determine whether there is probable cause that the surveillance target is a foreign power or a foreign agent and that the surveillance is necessary to obtain foreign intelligence information. The court's rulings are classified.

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Carol E. Lee is an NBC News correspondent.