Strange lines in China's Desert

[AdamG]

Somebody Ordered Tons of Satellite Photographs of China’s Mysterious Structures

There are lots of explanations for the gigantic structures built in China's desert. But the most mysterious thing is invisible: according to a former CIA analyst, there's someone who has ordered tons of satellite photos of this area since 2004.

And the plot thickens.

Allen Thomson, an analyst who used to work for the agency in the field of reconnaissance satellites, has noticed that "starting in 2004, somebody has ordered many, many satellite pictures of it."

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. Compare that crazy grid of squares to the few images taken of its surroundings.

http://gizmodo.com/5859781/somebody-ordered-tons-of-satellite-photographs-of-chinas-mysterious-structures

In addition to the links within the link above, have the link below

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/mammoth-mysterious-china/

[RedRaven]

The Chinese government is messing with the rest of the world?

[ganulv]

LINK (http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.85751,88.08838&z=6&t=S&marker0=40.47516%2C90.83221%2Cunnamed&marker1=40.47913%2C93.47782%2Cunnamed&marker2=40.47677%2C93.51273%2Cunnamed&marker3=40.45704%2C93.54459%2Cunnamed&marker4=40.45762%2C93.39322%2Cunnamed&marker5=40.45217%2C93.74222%2Cunnamed) The big brown area to the west is an endorheic basin, perhaps the imaging orders have something to do with an environmental change study and/or mineral prospecting (see A below).

A – some sort of salt processing facility
B – looks to me (because of the erosion) to have been disused in favor of
C, which looks like it connects via a track to
D
E and F – I would guess are used for calibration of something, perhaps of an instrument measuring reflectivity. Or perhaps they have something to do with photogrammetry as the angles (particularly on E) don’t look arbitrary.

[bourbon]

LINK (http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.85751,88.08838&z=6&t=S&marker0=40.47516%2C90.83221%2Cunnamed&marker1=40.47913%2C93.47782%2Cunnamed&marker2=40.47677%2C93.51273%2Cunnamed&marker3=40.45704%2C93.54459%2Cunnamed&marker4=40.45762%2C93.39322%2Cunnamed&marker5=40.45217%2C93.74222%2Cunnamed) The big brown area to the west is an endorheic basin, perhaps the imaging orders have something to do with an environmental change study and/or mineral prospecting (see A below).

A – some sort of salt processing facility
B – looks to me (because of the erosion) to have been disused in favor of
C, which looks like it connects via a track to
D
E and F – I would guess are used for calibration of something, perhaps of an instrument measuring reflectivity. Or perhaps they have something to do with photogrammetry as the angles (particularly on E) don’t look arbitrary.
Yup, calibration targets for satellite imaging.

[Fuchs]

Yup, calibration targets for satellite imaging.

Shouldn't points suffice for that purpose?

[AdamG]

The 65-foot-wide white lines that make up China's grids are not made of reflective metal as many news sites have suggested. "They have gaps in them where they cross little natural drainage channels and the lines themselves are not perfectly filled in, with lots of little streaks and uneven coverage. I think it's safe to say these are some kind of paint," Hill said, noting that if they were made of white dust or chalk, the wind would have caused them to streak visibly.
The calibration targets are larger than might have been expected, he said, suggesting that the satellite cameras they are being used to calibrate have surprisingly poor ground resolution.

http://news.yahoo.com/mysterious-symbols-china-desert-spy-satellite-targets-expert-132005935.html

[ganulv]

Then perhaps a good question to ask would be, “What can be accomplished with lines and polygons that cannot be accomplished with a set of points?” Maybe we are looking at the grist for a pattern recognition mill (http://www.quora.com/What-are-these-structures-in-the-Gobi-Desert-in-China)?

[Bill Moore]

I may get in trouble for saying this, but I have it from good sources that the aliens at Site 39 escaped, and some analysts believe they formed a colony somewhere in the vicinity these sattellite photos were taken. It also possible that they're collaborating with Al Qaeda. :D

[ganulv]

I may get in trouble for saying this, but I have it from good sources that the aliens at Site 39 escaped, and some analysts believe they formed a colony somewhere in the vicinity these sattellite photos were taken. It also possible that they're collaborating with Al Qaeda. :DThat means we’re in some real fruity s*#t now, man (http://youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY)!
(http://youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY)