Mysterious Symbols in China Desert Are Spy Satellite Targets, Expert Says

[micropage7]

Newfound Google Maps images have revealed an array of mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China's Gobi Desert. The media — from mainstream to fringe — has wildly speculated that they might be Chinese weapons-testing sites, satellite calibration targets, street maps of Washington, D.C., and New York City, or even messages to (or from) aliens.

It turns out that they are almost definitely used to calibrate China's spy satellites.

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.
http://www.livescience.com/17052-mysterious-symbols-china-desert-spy-satellite-targets-expert.html

 

[Neuromancer]

Wow, now this as crazy as it sounds is more important than windows 8 issues.

 

[Inceptor]

Are you sure is not just another 'easter egg' from Google?

 

[de.das.dude]

wtf china!

 

[Drone]

It doesn't even look like symbols, just random abra cadabra

 

[pantherx12]

All kinds of cool stuff in that Desert

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chi...0.230757,0.42263&hnear=China&t=h&z=12&vpsrc=6

I like this massive man made reservoir of sorts.

 

[scaminatrix]

All kinds of cool stuff in that Desert

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chi...0.230757,0.42263&hnear=China&t=h&z=12&vpsrc=6

I like this massive man made reservoir of sorts.

Crazy! There's another wierd one just south of that too...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chi....107835,0.151234&hnear=China&t=h&vpsrc=6&z=13

Colours are strange...

 

[MilkyWay]

Those reservoirs are weird. Look at this! Notice the missing bit ive circled.

Spoiler

Zoomed out

Zoomed in

EDIT: lots of other places and buildings there that look like are used for military purposes, maybe weapons testing. In the OPs link there is a picture of a massive grid array.

 

[micropage7]

It doesn't even look like symbols, just random abra cadabra

yep looks like random lines, maybe it used to check how accurate their sattelite view on small and complicate objects

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Those could be rice paddies or some kind of covered farm.


Anyway, saw this on CNN like two weeks ago. He said that NASA uses a guys name carved into Texas for calibrating satellites.

I somehow doubt their explanation. That looks way too elaborate to be used for such a simple task. For example, I'm relatively sure CIA calibrates their satellites by reading a license plate on a car.

It looks more like a map of some kind--could be for spies stationed somewhere.

 

[pantherx12]

Those could be rice paddies or some kind of covered farm.


Anyway, saw this on CNN like two weeks ago. He said that NASA uses a guys name carved into Texas for calibrating satellites.

I somehow doubt their explanation. That looks way too elaborate to be used for such a simple task. For example, I'm relatively sure CIA calibrates their satellites by reading a license plate on a car.

It looks more like a map of some kind--could be for spies stationed somewhere.

Don't think they're paddies they've got boats ( or what looks like boats) with nets/piping leading from them.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chi....007211,0.013207&hnear=China&t=h&vpsrc=6&z=17



Also anyone seen this?

Could be a mistake loading up the wrong tile but if it isn;t it's a scaled man made mountain range

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Don't think they're paddies they've got boats ( or what looks like boats) with nets/piping leading from them.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chi....007211,0.013207&hnear=China&t=h&vpsrc=6&z=17

That looks even more like a rice paddy (or some other form of water-based agriculture). The blue ones haven't been seeded yet and the greenish ones have. You can see vehicles/tractor in one pulling a bouy they use to corale the crop to one corner for harvesting.

Why would China go through all that trouble to farm rice in the middle of a desert? Simple, there's a well documented food shortage in China.


Strange, Bing doesn't show that structure at all: http://binged.it/rVJNQB


It doesn't have the one pointed out by Scaminatrix either: http://binged.it/t69Tym

That one looks like a lake that is drying up/being depleted. You can see where they erected a wall to hold the water back. The structures are built on the presumably fertile soil that the lake once covered. Water is more precious to them up there than soil so that might explain why they built those large, what a appears to be cement water holding troughs.

On second thought, those might be tarps of a sort for desalination. They take the salty water from that lake, pump it into those troughs, let the sun evaporate all the water away, and collect the salt. Seeing as it appears to be a temporary rather than a permanent structure, that is more plausible. That can't explain the other one in the middle of the desert though because it looks like they'd have to truck water in which can't be cheap.

 

[Steevo]

Its not agriculture, its desalination.