November 18, 2011, 4:51 pm
Formations in China Desert Are Still a Mystery
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
Google MapsMysterious shapes seen on Google Maps in the Gobi Desert in China have raised questions online. The arrows above indicate the locations of three such shapes within about 20 miles.
In the areas of the Internet that buzz with delight at strange formations writ large on the landscape, a mystery appeared to be solved this week: giant shapes seen on Google Maps in China are simply geometric targets for satellite calibration.
Or are they?
The shapes, which include thick white lines drawn in sharp angles and structures arranged in concentric circles around airplanes, attracted attention earlier this month after they were first highlighted by the online magazine, Viewzone. That post includes a photo of one such formation, partially built, from 2003 and what appears to be a village nearby.
It was later picked up by Gizmodo, the technology blog, which posted several other images found by readers. The blog observed that the forms, some up to a mile long, “seem to be designed to be seen from orbit.”
Google MapsOne large shape seen in the Chinese desert. (Far right in the image at top.)
The massive forms in the Gobi Desert in western China appear to be several years old and previously attracted the attention of at least one blogger, who in March 2009 wrote: “There’s something screwy going on in western China.”
As far back as 2004, they seem to have drawn more than just casual interest, as Wired magazine’s Danger Room blog recently reported in a post after the formations came to light again this week. The post draws on data gathered by enabling a feature of Google Earth that shows the date and size of the satellite images stitched together to create a seamless image by the service. The fact that many images of the remote location were taken over time, beginning in 2004, suggests a costly interest on the part of an individual or organization.
As former CIA analyst Allen Thomson notes, turning on the DigitalGlobe coverage layer in Google Earth shows all the various times the imaging satellite has been asked to inspect that part of the desert. [Here’s a screenshot.] “Starting in 2004, somebody has ordered many, many satellite pictures of it,” Thomson tells Danger Room. “Can’t have been cheap.”
Google MapsRaised structures surround planes in concentric circles.
On Twitter-like social media sites in China, users shared links to articles in the Western press (China’s official media have not yet weighed in) and pet theories about what in the world they could be.
“If you like crop circles, Area 51 or UFOs in the United States, then you will love this,” one user of the popular Chinese microblog Sina Weibo wrote.
“In fact, as early as 2008, China’s major media reported on the shooting range in the northwestern desert state,” another stated, without elaborating, in a comment along with a reposted CNN video.
Amid the theories both in and out of China, the mystery seemed to find a mundane explanation on Thursday.
A site called Life’s Little Mysteries said the forms were “almost definitely used to calibrate China’s spy satellites,” citing comments in an interview with a research technician at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University.
The satellite calibration theory was advanced by a blogger in 2008 to explain crop circles, which have also been the subject of fevered online speculation.
Google MapsMore formations in the China desert (these are the middle forms in the image at top). The shapes drew comparisons to well-known curiosities including crop circles and Area 51, a government site at the center of many extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.
But The Lede found that after consulting with independent and United States government satellite experts, the calibration theory may be incorrect.
“With calibration, you’re looking for precise measurement,” said Dwayne Day, a military space historian, in a telephone interview. “You have boxes that get smaller by a calculated amount. You don’t just throw stuff all over the place and then take a picture of it.”
He said that when calibration targets have been used by the United States and Russia, they are much smaller. “There’s no reason why you would build anything that big for a satellite calibration target,” he said.
Decades-old markings that are more likely candidates for satellite targets can still be seen on Google Maps in Arizona. A video of one of these markings, which resemble cross hairs, was posted by an amateur historian who said they were likely part of recently declassified American spy satellite programs from the 1960s and early 1970s. But that site too may have nothing to do with space or satellites, analysts said; they could be related to military aviation.
After an email inquiry by The Lede, the Union of Concerned Scientists, an industry watchdog and critic, said the China formations appeared to be conventional aerial and missile bombing targets. In the past, China has built large structures for bombing practice.
In short, the China sites remain a mystery — but not necessarily one with an out-of-this-world explanation.
“The thing that would make it really sexy is if there were fences around it — and I don’t see any,” Mr. Day, the historian, said, adding that a lack of security indicated a lack of strategic importance. “We don’t know what the heck it is, but there are probably two guys in China who could tell you what it is and you’d be bored silly.”
