World

New Pic Reveals Someone Ordered A Lot of Satellite Pics of Mysterious Chinese Structures, But Who?

Earlier this week, we showed you a handful of aerial images of strange structures in China’s desert, but another interesting facet to the story has since emerged.

(Related: Are the symbols used for spy satellite calibration?)

According to Wired’s Danger Room, former CIA analyst Allen Thomson said someone had several satellite images taken of the area well before the rest of the Internet world gained interest in it this week:

“Starting in 2004, somebody has ordered many, many satellite pictures of it,” Thomson tells Danger Room. “Can’t have been cheap.”

Who Ordered the Many, Many Satellite Pictures of Structures on Chinas Desert?

(Image via Wired)

Thomson was able to discover this by enabling the DigitalGlobe coverage layer on the image, which notes the times when an images was requested of the area. Gizmodo explains further:

You can see the extreme density of these requests if you turn on the DigitalGlobe layer in Google Earth — the satellite has received commands to photograph this area many hundreds of times.

Gizmodo speculates that the requests most likely didn’t come from the U.S. military — because we have our own spy satellites — but from a nonmilitary agency or another country.

Since the original Reddit post on the mysterious structures, more and more accounts and images have been coming forward (including the images below).

Who Ordered the Many, Many Satellite Pictures of Structures on Chinas Desert?

Who Ordered the Many, Many Satellite Pictures of Structures on Chinas Desert?

Gizmodo does note that China has been building structure in the desert for a long time, so the fact that the country is doing this isn’t odd in itself. There is just speculation as to what these buildings could be: Gizmodo entertains the idea of use for Chinese spy satellites or perhaps code for aliens.

Comments (177)

  • BurntHills
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:51am

    there’s our American tax dollars at work in China. obama said he wants to build.

    Report Post » BurntHills  
    • 100 Million Patriots Standing
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:20am

      The UN is watching…..over all of us from the sky….look up ……PROTEUS
      we are being prepared for observation from the sky – to be sure we are compliant with sustainability.

      Report Post » 100 Million Patriots Standing  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:23am

      I think the one that looks like a target is a mathematical equation, and they change the equation from time to time, and the lighter shadows are depressions where objects were sitting before they were moved.

      Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:31am

      The target is also reminiscent of the Zodiac.

      Report Post »  
    • Iron Kurtain
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:42am

      the top photo looks like a solar panel array for a possible solar energy power plant.

      Report Post » Iron Kurtain  
    • JAYBECONSERVATIVE
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:28pm

      Or they like to bale there hay in circles instead of rows like us Americans. . and with planes.

      Report Post »  
    • VRW Conspirator
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:51pm

      the circular array has bombers in the middle of it…and radial roads like runways…seems like someone took 3 or 4 large intercontinental bombers..parked them in the desert…and put up some K-rails to stop people from taking them..those planes can’t get out without the barriers being moved…no room to maneuver around them…those aren’t airliners..they are bombers…military definitely…
      maybe that is how China deals with all the planes they unlawfully force down and then seize to steal tech from….
      or then again…
      yeah..
      could be aliens… LOL….i mean most of the Chinese and NK leaders look like those alien autopsy photos..right…i am not the only one that sees the resemblence???

      Report Post » VRW Conspirator  
    • smokeysmoke
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:02pm

      you see those MASSIVE BLUE POOLS… next to what looks like a sewage treatment plant…. follow the CANALS…. they go to a big hydro dam…. but FOLLOW THE CANALS FURTHER UP STREAM…. WHY ARE THERE LEVEES THE WHOLE WAY UP…. BUT GO TO NOTHING….. this is so strange

      Report Post » smokeysmoke  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:09pm

      The circular one with the 3 jets near the center looks like the dots and dashes used to write to a CD-ROM.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Delta_River_Folk
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:49pm

      This is very interesting, it would be helpful if we had a better understanding of the topography. They all are in close proximatety of each other and appear to be near the same road or railroad tracks. There is definately a reason they are so far away from civilazation. I also wonder how long they have exsisted. With China’s population and slave labor mentality it probaly does not take them long to build such huge facilities. Projects like this would take the US a lifetime, and may still never be completed. All of that being said I would assume the US government has some idea what is going on, oh wait that department has probably been cut so that the Occupiers all have tents to sleep in at night.

      Report Post »  
    • Delta_River_Folk
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:05pm

      Here is another site at a near by town (39.751479, 98.213353). You have to zoom in some. I don’t know their symbols but it appears to be one. The more you look at this the more facinating it is.

      Report Post »  
    • pacomj60
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:47pm

      Amazing! Obama did it again. How dumb can you be? Note the dates 2004 – if anything look to Bush. But then again he was only interested in stealing oil and paying for it with Chinese money.
      If you really want to see interesting pictures look at the ones from Chile – heck some people think aliens created them. Maybe it was the Chinese.

      Report Post »  
    • blue_sky
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:52pm

      I love when former CIA agents give us “analysis” – usually they have no clue and lie, but if they manage to disclose to us something, it is usually a package of half-baked affirmative-action quality speculation.

      Report Post »  
    • Delta_River_Folk
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:56pm

      The bottom pictures does appear to have cooling towers, but I don’t see power lines, which would indicate a power reactor. I do see see what may appear to be pats used for particale accelerators.

      Report Post »  
    • Sheepdog911
      Posted on November 17, 2011 at 6:05am

      Wow, Chinese Stonehenge, or is someone trying to break into the world of modern art?.

      Report Post » Sheepdog911  
    • ConservativeMajority
      Posted on November 17, 2011 at 11:33am

      See! Shovel ready jobs!

      Report Post »  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:48am

    when obama is bending over in front of the Chinese as usual, why doesn’t he just ask them what the mystery structures are before he pulls his pants up.

    Report Post » BurntHills  
  • Snerdley
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:47am

    So, I find this picture very enlightening.

    http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-16-35-171.jpg

    Notice that there is only one 5-sided polygon on the pattern, and that if you zoom in, that polygon has impacts at its upper point…
    http://g.co/maps/6u8ec

    Now, I may be a kook to tie that to the fact that our defense department building has that shape, but it does seem a bit odd.

    My personal guess is that this grid is for autonomous UAVs target practice.

    Report Post »  
    • blazerbob
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:21am

      Snerdley – very astute! So just for grins (Using Google Earth) I drew a perimeter around the 5-sided pattern in China – length is .44 miles. Drawing a similar perimeter around the Pentagon: .88 miles — exactly 1:2 ratio. I suppose it *could* be a coincidence…

      Report Post »  
    • JP4JOY
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:48am

      Looking just to the East I found a number of “airfields” with lots of craters from what could be bomb strikes.

      Report Post » JP4JOY  
    • notsofast
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:12pm

      When I first saw that pic…I thought it looked like the Pentagon building too.

      Report Post »  
    • veritas_unum
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:28pm

      i found 4, 5 sided shapes

      Report Post »  
    • D. Dada Miller
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:34pm

      @Snerdly Could that pic link you posted possibly be a somewhat stylized, scale targeting practice map of DC? Has anyone tried to correlate any distances from the pentagon shape to other shapes like Capitol Hill or Whitehouse? Are there craters there too? (Or do any of the shapes with craters correlate in scale to anything on the DC Map?) Just an idea based on the pentagon comments and the slight similarities to roads in the desert pic. But I have a feeling that if it was that, it sure as heck wouldn’t still be on GoogleMaps. :)

      Report Post »  
    • Snerdley
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:56pm

      Veritas: after further review, I do see these two
      http://g.co/maps/7r9bs
      I probably missed them because they were adjacent to each other (or I just missed them).
      This one
      http://g.co/maps/u3kt8
      is technically 5 sided, but just barely.

      That said, this is still exactly the type of field I’d use to train UAVs to target by shape. Remember, in a true war scenario, the US-run GPS will not be useful, and their own version would likely be jammed, so navigating by visuals would be very useful. The fact that the 5-sided figure was targeted is just worrying.

      As for overlays on DC, you’re welcome to check it, but I think that would be very stupid… and they probably are anything but that.

      Report Post »  
    • The10thAmendment
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:13pm

      @ Snerdley
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:56pm
      ——————————————————————————————————————–
      Completely unnecessary to target by shape. Sat. position can be used over a period of days, months and years to get completely blind firing solutions for UAV’s that can be programmed by simply referencing date and time and logged by virtually any entry level personnel tasked.

      If they’re doing anything, that‘s what they’re doing, and narrowing their mathematical solution errors by practical application.

      Report Post » The10thAmendment  
    • sWampy
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:24pm

      Screw ups on goggle’s part, the lighter portions are simply older lower resolution images being displayed because they are missing from the higher resolution darker images, or simply failed to fuse together right for some reason and were discarded. The fusion software google uses is fairly buggy, we see this kind of thing all the time.

      Report Post »  
    • Gomek
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:48pm

      The whole notion of the Chinese plotting an attack on the Pentagon or any other American target is highly unlikely. I say that because, the powers that be in China know we along with Europe and other developed country’s around the world are the “The golden goose” It’s a simple parasite/host relationship we have with China, we buy all their crappy goods and in return they don’t squash up like a grape. Islam is much more a direct to us than China. Granted, none of us really like the situation we’re in with China controlling an obscene amount of our debt, etc. But in the end, China doesn’t care if we speak Chinese or adapt to their culture unlike Islam.

      Report Post »  
    • The10thAmendment
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:57pm

      @ Gomek
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:48pm

      The whole notion of the Chinese plotting an attack on the Pentagon or any other American target is highly unlikely.
      —————————————————————————————————————————————–
      It’s not completely out of the question, but I tend to agree with you. I made a transparency at work of the initial grid pattern. It doesn’t fit any major area in the Continental US. But I found some interesting similarities in Iran, Iraq, and Israel. If the Chinese march, it will be into Asia Minor first. In order to sustain an assault on the United States (and the West in general) they will need more resources first.

      I was pulling up some older test sites the US made and we have almost the same thing going on around Los Alamos and area’s over the Marshall Islands following our atom bomb testing. It became a fairly clear picture once we were able to get satellites doing what our spy planes once did. The Chinese are a long way behind if that‘s what they’re doing. We’ve been doing this since Satellite Alpha 1958. We didn’t really have high altitude recon until 1955, but the ones from the first Atomic test at Bikini Atoll began the pursuit (starting in 1946). Now our solutions are accurate to a 3 ft radius globally, which is literally microseconds of accuracy.

      Report Post » The10thAmendment  
    • Nyle
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:51pm

      Are we overlooking the obvious? Keynesian economic spending. They simply are spending money to build things because government spending stimulates the economy.

      Report Post »  
    • smokeysmoke
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 9:34pm

      use the link, and go to the map of china… zoom out a bit and go WEST…. and you will see the MASSIVE BLUE POOLS…. scout this area…. WHY DIG CANALS, JUST TO HAVE THEM LEAD TO NOTHING….. the water moves down stream and goes to hydro dams and then is STORED in those massive pools…… FOLLOW THE CANALS TO THE NORTH…. are there levees on the canal… or is it WATER BEING PUMPED INTO THE CANAL… could they be melting glaciers…. i dont know, but this building IS HUGE…. and iTS ALL MAN MADE…. FROM THE DAMS TO THE CANALS TO THE PUMPS…. to the pools ar the end and its all in the desert…. AND TEHER IS NOTHING AROUND…

      Report Post » smokeysmoke  
  • TyrannyNoMore
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:43am

    The planes at the center of the circle indicate some sort of military operation. Why would civilian transport be there?
    The circular pattern reminds me of the super collider in Cern. Could the Chinese be developing some sort of new technology ? More likely they are trying to reverse engineer technology they have stolen from us.

    Report Post » TyrannyNoMore  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:58am

      This Is China’s Manhattan Project

      That bulls eye feature is used to measure the X-ray beam density, focus and distortion. The battle station cannot be manned due to the high level of neutrons generated during the firing of the X-ray Laser so targeting features must be resolved by on board optics and computers thus the strange grid features.

      Lets give Democrat Congress a hand of applause for de-funding Edward Teller’s 4th and 5th generation nuclear weapon research project 20 years ago. I wonder if a CHICOM operated US Post Office will run $5 Billion a year deficits.

      Report Post »  
    • liberalescheisskopf
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:40pm

      Why would they reverse-engineer when Willy gave them the information?

      Report Post » liberalescheisskopf  
  • sheilabsabol
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:41am

    Please watch your spelling. It sends the wrong message. I know you are writing the stories quickly and I would like to suggest your site to others, but the typos and spelling errors are very annoying, keeping me from doing so………………….

    Report Post »  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:48am

      The CHICOMs ordered those pictures. They want to know what can be learned about their work from the photos. China does not have precise photo-recon satellites in orbit yet. They cannot do everything.

      Report Post »  
  • TheMarine
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:40am

    The top white plane looks like an old JianZhen-6 Chinese Reconnaissance Aircraft.

    Report Post » TheMarine  
  • lel2007
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:40am

    Has anyone ASKED China what they’re building in the desert?

    Report Post » lel2007  
    • Go Glenn
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:25pm

      Well that someone would most likely be Hillary……………are you kidding me?

      You think she or anyone else in the Corrupt Regime would dare ask our Banker what they are doing?

      Report Post »  
  • RejectFalseIcons
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:38am

    Looking at the circular image, it almost looks like either a demarcation for safe distance from an epicenter, or perhaps a range for testing EMP based weapons. The small objects look like maybe cars or trucks, and the jets look like old migs.

    The plant shown in the bottom picture is definitely some sort of desalinization, water recycling or another type of plant. We are most likely seeing a research facility.

    Report Post » RejectFalseIcons  
  • GumRock
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:36am

    I Offer my highly unqualified and uninformed assessment of the above said
    photo as I haven’t even read the article that follows the photo
    while Applying some highly complicated Mathematical formula
    that borderlines on quantum Physics , to which I have no understanding of
    I have solved this Question of what it is
    It’s a Global Climate changing Machine.
    The Debate is over !
    Now Lets apply this Information to Tax Americans so that I may become Rich beyond belief.
    Move over Al Gore,
    Two can play at this

    Report Post » GumRock  
    • TyrannyNoMore
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:46am

      Dude, that was funny !

      Report Post » TyrannyNoMore  
    • 1proud_Texan
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:05am

      That was a great analysis! Are you a politician or Hollywood actor?

      Report Post »  
    • andrews042
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:58am

      I am not a physicist, or a mathemetician, or a political or millitary analyst. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express Last night and I totally agree with Gumrock.
      Clearly China has a weather machine and all the secrets that “leaked out” under the Clinton administration were a payoff to the Chinese to keep a Katrina from happening to us.

      Report Post »  
  • Arktiger
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:35am

    Just an observation that when large scale explosions are done underground they sometimes nake those same concentric circles in their blast pattern.. just trhowing that out there.

    Report Post »  
  • grudgywoof
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:35am

    Used to calibrate GPS based missle guidence systems.

    Report Post » grudgywoof  
  • threedoor
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:35am

    A few of these, like the plant in the bottom picture are obviously plants for extracting mineral salts from the desert, much like we do in Salt Lake City, noting suspicious there. The grids on the other hand are most likely military in nature.

    Report Post » threedoor  
  • mertmag
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:33am

    I’m glad it is so amusing to everyone. China would not spend that kind of money to build massive structures in the desert unless it was for weapons programs. When your sitting in your own rubble looking at the bodies of you family and friends just crack a smile because I bet you’ll finally get it, the jokes on you. Wake up America China and Russia are working to undermine country. If we had any brains we would be spending a fortune on strategic weapons and not blowing our money on wars that drain us.

    Report Post »  
    • gofigureinternational
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:07am

      Exactly, and perhaps find sources for domestic oil so when the Middle East melts down, we are not trying to fuel battleships with Ethanol! It is going to be a little rough buying oil with borrowed money from our potential enemies! However, at this point everyone seems to be blissfully ignorant paying attention to whose posterior looks better in this or that particular dress on the red carpet…amazing!

      Report Post »  
    • notsofast
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:20pm

      Sounds like a job creator to me! Lets go for it.

      Report Post »  
  • krispy01
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:32am

    So Myserious !!!! LOL, use your spell checker !

    Report Post » krispy01  
  • Harry Assenback
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:31am

    No doubt the circular picture is a DEATH RAY. Well maybe not………..

    Report Post » Harry Assenback  
  • thekuligs
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:31am

    AND.. we’re cutting our defense budget. YES lets make ourselves easier targets =(

    Report Post » thekuligs  
  • urrybr
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:28am

    Looks like a strategic targeting map to me. The first photo, of the round structure sure looks like a target to me. ‘ Obama gettin’ an itchy trigger finger????

    Report Post » urrybr  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:45am

      China Is Deploying A Space Based Reloadable X-Ray Laser Battle Station

      Edward Teller, the US atomic physicist, developed a 4th Generation nuclear weapon X-ray laser for knocking out Soviet ICBMs. He also developed and tested a 5th Generation clean thermonuclear device. This was over 20 years ago and when Democrats in Congress found out about Teller’s work, the stopped the funding.

      It appears the the CHICOMs obtained the engineering plans for these two weapons and have combined them into a re-loadable orbiting X-ray battle station. Those features are being used to test and target this weapon system. An X-ray laser from space can be used to destroy any target on earth without collateral damage. X-rays can be used to destroy explosive warheads and munitions.

      The US military knows what these things are and so does Obama.

       
  • Drum Man
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:27am

    Very interesting stuff! You can see Jets in the circular pic…

    Report Post » Drum Man  
    • SgtB
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:33am

      MIG’s no less.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • thekuligs
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:34am

      Stangest runway I have ever seen. Looks like a way to launch lots of planes at once.

      Report Post » thekuligs  
    • Dude Doug
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:37am

      Why are there bomber jets there ??? I do not see any runways for take-offs/landings ??

      Report Post »  
    • Thomas Payne
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:44am

      Old Migs. Those look like 17′s, maybe 19′s?

      Report Post » Thomas Payne  
  • jado1981
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:25am

    Does anyone else see the circular pattern is winding, much like the pits in a cd/dvd or even a record. I don’t know morse code, but some of those things look like dots and dashes.
    Okay, now I’ll put my tin-foil hat back on the hat-rack.

    Report Post »  
    • JoshTheRadioDude
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:35am

      Hmm… now that you mention it, that thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I‘ve been looking at these for about a week now and I didn’t see it. Good catch.

      Report Post »  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:20pm

      I think they could be buildings that house measuring equipment needed to determine X-ray Laser focusing. Since X-rays cannot be focused with physical lenses, the sequence of the thermonuclear energy pump detonation is what focuses the beam. Some of this information was in Teller’s biography and may still be on the internet.

      Our military is helpless because Congress passed a law stopping funding of this system and preventing any kind of such work ever being done. The CHICOMs do not have Democrats in their government, we do.

      Report Post »  
    • arty6164
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:33pm

      I know morse code and it is too erratic to make sense. Besides, how could you convert 2000 Chinese characters into 36 code characters? It is a puzzlement, no?

      Report Post »  
  • marre
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:25am

    The bottom image looks like a waste treatment plant.

    Report Post »  
    • urrybr
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:32am

      I would say an oil refinery. Those look like petroleum tanks. I’m looking for railroads into this plant.

      Report Post » urrybr  
    • ThomasUSA
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:33am

      Maybe a refinery.. also looks like two nuclear cooling towers on the lower right too..

      Report Post » ThomasUSA  
  • robmerrill88
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:23am

    I honestly think that some of these structures could be code for aliens. I probably sound like a nut but I wouldn’t be surprised if China was in constant contact with some form of intelligent E.T.

    Report Post » robmerrill88  
    • utbw42
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:31am

      That would come in handy if the aliens like to eat….then eat again an hour later.

      Report Post »  
  • groundzero
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:10am

    I’m telling u its General Electric new factory.
    Looks like a fall out shelter.

    Report Post » groundzero  
    • motonutt
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:31am

      What’s going on is the chinese are getting their infrastructure ready for war.

      I would guess that Taiwan will be taken without the U.S. being able to say a peep.

      The chinese are exactly in the same position as the Japanese were in the 30′s, and it is going to be the same result. The movie “Red Dawn” that seemed like fiction that could never happen to our great country could now become our lot.

      motonutt  
    • ace772
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:38am

      I bet you are right, GrounZero

      Report Post »  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:09am

    Interesting. They can build a lot of things with their work force of political prisoners. Some of this could be “make work” for prisoners but I believe these constructions have a military purpose.

    Report Post »  
    • bum
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:23am

      not to mention the $20 billion per month we pay in interest to them and, oh yeah, the foreign aid we give them.

      Report Post » bum  
  • lukerw
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:05am

    Reminds me of… Circuit Boards!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • gmoneytx
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:04am

    I pick code for aliens!

    Report Post » gmoneytx  

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