谷歌地球：開放式CIA

來源：觀察者網     作者：Natalie Wolchover/譯者 洪豆等

最新谷歌地圖顯示在中國戈壁沙漠地區出現了一系列神秘構造和圖案，從主流媒體到邊緣媒體大都猜測其為中國軍事實驗基地、衛星定位坐標、華盛頓或紐約的街道地圖甚至與外星人之間的信息交流。

這證明：它們很可能被用來測試中國的間諜衛星定位。美國亞利桑那州火星探測設備的技術專家和任務策劃者、在美國航空航天局的火星任務中負責操作大量攝像機的喬納森·希爾也是這樣說的。希爾的工作就是處理這些通過探測器和衛星采集到的火星表面圖像和美國國家航空航天局設置在地球軌道上的設備采集來的資料。

各種沙漠構造中最奇特的一個有著鋸齒狀的白線構成的網格，這是衛星定位的坐標，衛星攝像機聚焦在長約1.15英里、寬約0.65英里的網格上，用以調準衛星在太空中的位置。

這些衛星定位標的存在看上去似乎很可疑且具有啟發性，但希爾卻說并非如此。中國已被了解到要運作間諜衛星，其他許多國家也是如此。事實上，美國也在使用定位坐標。希爾告訴life’s little mysteries（ LiveScience的兄弟網站）“我剛發現的一個例子就是1960年代建于亞利桑那州32° 48' 24.74" N, 111° 43' 21.30" W的Casa Grande的一個為間諜衛星‘日冕’服務的一個定位坐標。

65碼寬的中國定位坐標并不像其他新聞站點說的那樣由反光金屬建造而成。這些線他們本身并沒有被全部填滿，充滿了條紋和起伏，他們在穿過那些小的天然地下水道時都會有縫隙。我覺得大致可以推斷出是一種涂料，”希爾說道，如果這種涂料是由白灰或白堊構成的，風力會使之布滿裂紋。

定位坐標比預想的要大一些，表明衛星攝像機的地面分辨率出人意外得低下。

不遠處另一個奇特的圖像顯示了一個仿佛放射狀巨石陣一樣的裝置，同時有戰斗機停在其中心處，“這無疑是一個為太空軌道雷達裝置定位的坐標，”希爾說道，“既然大量雷達接收信號是由于表面粗糙不同，這可能是一種測試方法，讓飛機四周的地形足夠崎嶇，從而部分偽裝飛機。”

換句話說，就是中國軍隊可能使用雷達裝置從上至下發射到坐標上，并且測定有多少雷達波被飛機反射回雷達裝置、多少雷達波被四周巨石陣一般的物體分散。由此可見，中國的雷達專家可以找到如何防止本國軍事設施被他國間諜衛星偵測到的辦法，同時也可以找到別國小心隱藏的物體的線索。然而，飛機由金屬構成的這個事實會增加雷達反射的頻率，使之很難被完全隱藏起來。”希爾說。

自從關于這些構造的初始報告廣泛流傳，小機械博客Gizmodo的勤奮讀者們就找出了一些更有趣的中國的設施。希爾說，其中一個看上去是武器測試區，可能是用來測試爆炸物。此外，還有一個巨大的網格坐標像是一個反射天線陣列。這樣的儀器可以用來做很多事情，比如氣象跟蹤、太空氣象跟蹤以及高空大氣研究。

希爾指出這些構造大多數距離相近，“我想我們看到的是某種軍事區域或測試區域，這可以解釋為什么大量裝備和技術設施被安置在偏僻地區，”他說，“有時，真相正像人們猜想的一樣有趣。”

英文原文：

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.

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. [Gallery: Mysterious Structures In China's Gobi Desert]

The existence of these calibration targets may seem suspicious or revelatory, but Hill said it really isn't; China was already known to operate spy satellites, and many other countries (including the United States) do so 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.

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.

Another strange image taken not far away shows a Stonehenge-like arrangement of objects radiating outward, with fighter jets parked at its center. "This is almost certainly a calibration/test target for orbital radar instruments," Hill said. "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. From this, the country's radar experts can learn how best to hide China's military operations from other countries' satellites, and possibly get clues for how to find carefully hidden objects in other countries. However, the fact that the planes are made out of metal will increase their radar return and make it very hard to completely mask them, Hill said.

Since the initial reports of these structures became widespread, industrious readers of the gadget blog Gizmodo have spotted a few more interesting structures in China. One, Hill said, appears to be a weapons testing zone, perhaps for evaluating explosives. Elsewhere, a giant grid resembles a Yagi antenna array. Instruments like this can be used for any number of things, such as weather tracking, space weather tracking and high-altitude atmospheric research.

Hill noted that most of these structures are quite closer to each other. "I think we're seeing some sort of military zone/test range, which explains the large amount of equipment and technology in an otherwise remote area," he said. "Sometimes the truth can be just as interesting, if not more so, than the conspiracies that people come up with."

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

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