Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert?

[Sam I Am]

This is crazy. New photos have appeared in Google Maps showing unidentified titanic structures in the middle of the Chinese desert. The first one is an intricate network of what appears to be huge metallic stripes. Is this a military experiment?

They seem to be wide lines drawn with some white material. Or maybe the dust have been dug by machinery.

It’s located in Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Gansu, north of the Shule River, which crosses the Tibetan Plateau to the west into the Kumtag Desert. It covers an area approximately one mile long by more than 3,000 feet wide.

The tracks are perfectly executed, and they seem to be designed to be seen from orbit.

Perhaps it’s some kind of targeting or calibrating grid for Chinese spy satellites? Maybe it’s a QR code for aliens? Nobody really knows.

You can check it out yourself in Google Maps here (http://g.co/maps/jxc9u).

Complete Story (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/china-gigantic/) (4 pages)

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-13-37-02-660x504.jpg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-13-38-48-660x425.jpg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-13-42-39-660x437.jpg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-13-44-45-660x493.jpg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/11/Snapshot-2011-11-14-16-35-17.jpg

[Wimbo]

target practice.

[Yeagermeister]

Because they can?

[TheCount]

I'm sure the government knows what they are for, doubt they'll share it with us but they are pretty creepy.

That's the sort of stuff another civilization unearths thousands of years from now, after we've killed ourselves off, and uses it as the basis for suggesting we ourselves were an alien race and possessed wisdom they can't comprehend. :laugh2:

[vta]

That's the sort of stuff another civilization unearths thousands of years from now, after we've killed ourselves off, and uses it as the basis for suggesting we ourselves were an alien race and possessed wisdom they can't comprehend. :laugh2:

:bow:

[Sam I Am]

Maybe they are building one of these.

http://www.monstershack.net/reviews/full/gfx/contact/machine.jpg

:laugh2:

[SC Cowboyfan]

Must be preparing for 12-12-12....:D

[ologan]

Maybe they are building one of these.

http://www.monstershack.net/reviews/full/gfx/contact/machine.jpg (http://www.monstershack.net/reviews/full/gfx/contact/machine.jpg)

:laugh2:

:bow: Great flic. "Wanna Take a ride?"

[chip_gilkey]

I'm sure the government knows what they are for, doubt they'll share it with us but they are pretty creepy.

That's the sort of stuff another civilization unearths thousands of years from now, after we've killed ourselves off, and uses it as the basis for suggesting we ourselves were an alien race and possessed wisdom they can't comprehend. :laugh2:

:laugh2: Very nice.

[MFWitt63]

apparently the chinese desert is a Very intersting place...check out these neon blue spaceship runways, or maybe just some google nerd photocopied a protractor into the map

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.452107,93.742118&hl=en&ll=40.477346,93.491245&spn=0.022818,0.045447&sll=40.452107,93.742118&sspn=2.921696,5.817261&vpsrc=6&t=f&z=15&ecpose=40.47734555,93.49124514,6030.38,-0.159,0,0

[arglebargle]

They're calibrating spy satellites, both visual and radar, doing weapons testing, etc. That's the latest reports I have seen. All sorts of oddness is popping up in the area, probably due to the efficiency of locating all their stuff in the same remote area.

[Romo 2 Austin]

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

Answered.



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

[kristie]

Maybe they are building one of these.

http://www.monstershack.net/reviews/full/gfx/contact/machine.jpg

:laugh2:

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Hoofbite]

They went through all that trouble to calibrate a satellite?

Sounds like a waste of time.

Couldn't they have just used current manmade structures to do that? A Walmart parking lot seems like it would probably do the trick.

Or how about the natural layout of the land?

[TheCount]

They went through all that trouble to calibrate a satellite?

Sounds like a waste of time.

Couldn't they have just used current manmade structures to do that? A Walmart parking lot seems like it would probably do the trick.

Or how about the natural layout of the land?

My guess is that It may not seem like it, but the area around man made structures are constantly changing. A satellite shot of Walmart on Tuesday could be completely different from the same shot on Friday because vehicles, nearby objects, even natural objects like trees all change.

You need something that will be constant from day to day, and of course it has to have a high level of contrast to make it easier on the cameras they use to focus.

I don't think you can focus using topography at all, radar might give you elevation but visually, it's nearly impossible to tell.

[CliffnMesquite]

Because the aliens figured the chinese would build them for half the price.

[Hoofbite]

My guess is that It may not seem like it, but the area around man made structures are constantly changing. A satellite shot of Walmart on Tuesday could be completely different from the same shot on Friday because vehicles, nearby objects, even natural objects like trees all change.

You need something that will be constant from day to day, and of course it has to have a high level of contrast to make it easier on the cameras they use to focus.

I don't think you can focus using topography at all, radar might give you elevation but visually, it's nearly impossible to tell.

I guess the topography angle makes sense.

I doubt they even have Walmarts in China, I was just saying there has to be something manmade that would suffice.

Airport runways seem like they're pretty consistent.

[SaltwaterServr]

Calibration targets for spy satellites. Here's one of our's in Arizona.

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/curious-china-pics-2185/4

[cowboyeric8]

Not as strange as their ghost cities.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-ghost-cities-2011-5

[SaltwaterServr]

Here's another one of those grids, this one near Dakhla, Western Sahara. I found it myself a few weeks ago.

23°53'09.27" N 15°49'55.64" W

Plug it into Google Earth and drop down to around 4000' elevation.

[BrAinPaiNt]

Why not use the Great wall of...wait for it...China. I am sure it is not going anywhere. :p:

[zrinkill]

40 - 30 year old technology.

[TheCount]

40 - 30 year old technology.

Yeah, from what I read about it last night, they said the US used to do the same thing... 40+ years ago. Chances are the targets long defunct or China is operating some really old satellites still.