World

Spy Satellite Calibration: Is That the Answer to China’s Strange Desert Images?

There has been much speculation as to what the Google Earth satellite images found in China’s Gobi desert are, but an expert is saying most, like the zigzag lines one below, are used as calibration targets for spy satellites.

Expert: Chinas Strange Google Earth Used for Spy Satellites

Live Science has more:

So says Jonathon Hill, a research technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, which operates many of the cameras used during NASA’s Mars missions. Hill works with images of the Martian surface taken by rovers and satellites, as well as data from Earth-orbiting NASA instruments.

The grids of zigzagging white lines seen in two of the images — the strangest of the various desert structures — are spy satellite calibration targets. Satellite cameras focus on the grids, which measure approximately 0.65 miles wide by 1.15 miles long, and use them to orient themselves in space.

Even still, Hill says we shouldn’t be surprised, as China was already known to have spy satellites and it is not the only country to operate them — the U.S. has its own as well:

In fact, the U.S. also uses calibration targets. “An example I found just now is a calibration target for the Corona spy satellites, built back in the 1960s, down in Casa Grande, Ariz., [at coordinates] 32° 48′ 24.74″ N, 111° 43′ 21.30″ W,” Hill told Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.

Expert: Chinas Strange Google Earth Used for Spy Satellites

This circular structure (see below), LiveScience reports, is also a calibration tool built for orbital radar instruments, according to Hill:

“Since a significant amount of radar return is due to differences in surface roughness, they‘re probably testing ways of making the areas around planes ’bumpy’ enough that the planes are partially masked.”

In other words, the Chinese military probably uses radar instruments to send signals down at the target from above, and determine how much radar bounces back to the instruments from the fighter jets, and how much gets scattered by the Stonehenge-like arrangement of bumps surrounding them.

[...]

“Sometimes the truth can be just as interesting, if not more so, than the conspiracies that people come up with.”

Expert: Chinas Strange Google Earth Used for Spy Satellites

Hill observes the close proximity of the structures to each other and confirms the remote area is most likely being used for military purposes, calling it “some sort of military zone/test range.”

Comments (39)

  • sayjaykay
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 2:29am

    I tend to agree wih Kickinback.

    I have lived in China for three years and I have seen mindnumbing dergrees of “busy work”, lack of imagination, bureaucratic nightmares, and “manana” taken to a level never before seen by mankind.
    If, indeed, this is something sinister, the west will have years to react.

    One thing that you will never hear in China is: “Yea, just let me run in here real quick and get this done.

    There is no telling what this is. But, based on my experiences here as an English teacher and a consistent consumer of Chinese goods and services, it won’t work as it should and it will be broken in no time. Rest easy, America

    Report Post »  
  • micklex
    Posted on November 17, 2011 at 3:31pm

    Check this out! I found a plank of oak in central China! Do you think they’re trying to make every one jealous of their hardwood floors?

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.457528,+93.382194&ll=40.458536,93.389765&spn=0.002012,0.005708&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6

    Report Post »  
  • Tretka
    Posted on November 17, 2011 at 2:04am

    Can I just say I did an hour review on a three mile area of this thing. When you look at the maze of white lines, and start moving left you find all kinds of buildings and roads and son on.There are cooling towers and cooling lines and leech ponds and discharge ponds. Then there is this immense area that if you give a study, that seems like a salt quarry. You can actually happen on to an angle where you are looking up the quarry wall. There is pave road running through most of the area. It also looks like there are the foot prints of buildings but there are no more buildings in some areas. Some areas look blasted.

    What about nuclear fusion? Or nuclear salt rockets? And, it looks like they might be gathering some solar power too. They could be dumping nuclear waste in what appears to be the quarry? Searches on the internet to bring up old blurbs about salt flats etc. in that area.

    Look, China has built entire cities where no one lives, they built the cities to keep people working. So this whole thing does not startle me.

    China declared a salt shortage when the Japanese mistakenly thought buying up salt would save them from radiation effects after their earthquake. Sooo, what gives China, hello?

    Report Post » Tretka  
    • Maxim Crux
      Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:47pm

      I believe that these lines…the grid lines which are over 18 miles long, are a collector or perhaps more like a transmitter antenna. Notice that the lines are continuous and stretch thousands of meters. There is no telling how high off the ground the resonator is from an Arial view. This would also explain the salt lakes. Saltwater is a very good conductor…especially when transmitting RF. Perhaps to eliminate ground losses, they saturated directly underneath the conductors with high concentrations of salt. I am not sure how they would get around having such a thing so close to the ground and still get it to resonate. A typical half wave would have a resonator like this out into space. Considering the long length, I would say that this is for transmitting ELF and capitalizing on the Schumann resonances of the Ionosphere. The only thing that is missing is a power plant. However, those look like cooling towers coming out of the earth nearby. Also I see other roads nearby that simply dead end into the mountainside which is strange, but understandable if they have an underground complex. Just a theory. Too bad we can’t get a closer look.

      Report Post »  
  • Got Ammo
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:30pm

    we don’t recognize what this is due to we stop doing above ground nuclear bomb tests many years ago. if you search out the photos of the test we did, they put different ships around in a circle, different angles to the center where the blast was going to be. search for “bikini atoll”. we did test like this in the desert as well.

    Report Post »  
  • TDOM
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 9:31pm

    Its the Chinese version of Area 51

    Report Post »  
  • Prochef
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 7:59pm

    Check out Australia remote area Now that we are3 sending troops . See if we have anything similar. That we are now guarding.

    Report Post »  
  • ztkraptor
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 7:40pm

    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9466222

    That shows what the “radar calibration” is

    Check it out..

    Report Post »  
  • lobo2525
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:46pm

    http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/

    Report Post » lobo2525  
  • yiddishlion
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:06pm

    Here, let me help bring you people up to speed;

    Google Chinese Quantum Teleportation…….

    Report Post » yiddishlion  
  • denisp52
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:47pm

    You are all idiots… it is Spiderman’s hideout and you are trying to expose it! I’m leaking this to the Wall Street Protesters…. “SSS” – Save Spidy’s Secrets … the other stuff referenced here is related to the other Super Hero’s so leave them out of this…. Duh!
    Yes I plan on voting for Obama again… why do you ask? signed Nancy P.

    Report Post »  
  • Eliasim
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:45pm

    I wonder why they need special targets to calibrate satellites when they could just use old country roads or something else already existing? I’d say that excuse is bull-crap. Although they may be working on material to block-out the government’s infrared satellites, and x-ray satellites.

    Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:47pm

      Ha. We don’t have any privacy. What a crappy world we live in, and I hope God wipes it out soon.

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

      One large asteroid, coming up.

      Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:55pm

      Between solar flares, super-volcanoes, asteroids, or destruction of world food, I‘m gonna get you SOB’s with one or all.

      Report Post »  
  • mollyringwald
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:31pm

    THIS IS SOOO FREAKY! It is no coincidence that we recently came into contact with the asteroid…………IT’S ALL RELATED! It was here for the democrats. Once they started controlling our food and taxing pine trees, the Anunakis became angered. Why do you think we lost NASA? Because the democrats don’t want us in space. Why don’t they want us in space???? BECAUSE OF THE ASTEROID!! China has it figured out, my friends. That is the only way they can stay one step ahead of the Anunakis. Glenn is the prophet that Enuk predicted would save us from this monstrosity WE CALL LIFE. They should NOT be able to control what we eat, or how much our christmas tree costs! Who gets to determine if a species is endangered or not? THE DEMOCRATS!!! It’s a huge conspiracy, I tell ya! I should be able to put anything I want in my G-D casserole. I welcome the asteroid to come and take all the stink-heads from the White House and collide with this Boubanic existence WE CALL EARTH!

    Report Post »  
    • The10thAmendment
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 5:39pm

      HUH???????????????????????????? Now read that back to yourself and try to keep a straight face. Bet ya can’t do it!

      Please tell me that you were just shooting for grins, and not actually serious! PLEASE!

      Report Post » The10thAmendment  
  • showmerancher
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:14pm

    Ok, Mr. Hill. I get why you might want to come up with something “plausible” without perhaps touching too close to something classified. Been there, done that. A mask for airplanes to avoid detection by down looking satellite radars? Me thinks that there are a couple of ways to mask an airplane from that kind of detection that wouldn’t require such an elaborate set up. Even if it did mask them from radar, it appears that they might be detected by… an ordinary camera!

    Report Post »  
    • mollyringwald
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:37pm

      You have never been more wrong and misguided. Open your eyes and smell the coffee, brother.

      Report Post »  
    • DrFrost
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:53pm

      @MOLLY

      That reminds me of my favorite quote from Friends:

      “You could not be more wrong. You could try but you would fail.”

      Seriously though, Molly, your post above has to be the strangest I’ve read on The Blaze.

      Report Post »  
    • rdietz7
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 9:06pm

      I know. I could see Judd Nelson saying that. But Molly with the expensive earings her father bought her, I don’t see it.

      Report Post » rdietz7  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:08pm

    If you take a picture of it with your Iphone from space, it spits out a coupon.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • Perspective
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:07pm

    That sounds feasible. At Wright Patterson AFB there are calibration targets in certain areas for sattelites.

    Report Post » Perspective  
  • VTDave
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:04pm

    Please see this article for an explanation:

    http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/chinas-mysterious-desert-lines-mystery-solved-20111115/

    Miltary training related and a potash factory…..

    Report Post » VTDave  
  • Wyratt
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:59pm

    I would think making crop circles in rice patties is a tougher task than the Gobi desert.

    Report Post » Wyratt  
  • RacialHybrid
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:57pm

    Looks like the new Barack Obama Highway was moved to China!

    Report Post » RacialHybrid  
  • sWampy
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:56pm

    It’s just missing data, places where the high resolution images are missing, and lower resolution data not color matched is showing instead of just blank space.

    Report Post »  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:50pm

    how cool, it’s just designs to calibrate the Chinese sats from space. maybe that’s what the Nazca lines were too.

    Report Post » BurntHills  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:45pm

    It’s actually government funded jobs. That’s how the commies keep people working. It’s kind of like paying people to dig holes and fill them in again…keeps the unemployment down.

    Report Post » KickinBack  
    • lukerw
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:57pm

      LOL :) How many people… working how long… did it take? I guess… if people are expendable, then this is the cheapest way… but, you would think that a Formula, using an existing reference point, would have been more practical. And, this makes me wonder… how the Muslim Satellite references?

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

    Alien sheet music. An alien had a really good tune in his head and had to right it down before he forgot it.

    Report Post » ComradeAdam  
  • lukerw
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:30pm

    LOL :) So, it tells them where is China?

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • Delta D-5-3
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:42pm

      Soooo, these have been around for years, but Google just found these?? Anyone else believe this “expert”?? Sorry, not buying it pal………..

      Report Post » Delta D-5-3  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:28pm

    They look like the Nazca lines. Maybe they’re talking to aliens.

    Report Post » Gonzo  

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