[HN Gopher] Candy CORN: analyzing the CORONA concrete crosses my...
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Candy CORN: analyzing the CORONA concrete crosses myth (2020)
Author : EricButton
Score : 59 points
Date : 2021-11-18 18:00 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thespacereview.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thespacereview.com)
| tablespoon wrote:
| > The idea that the Casa Grande range was developed for the
| CORONA program is asinine when looking at the timelines of range
| construction...
|
| People really need to pay more attention to timelines. It's a
| pretty frequent occurrence that someone posts some pet theory of
| theirs, with links to support it, but the support evaporates (or
| is greatly weakened) when you actually look at the dates of their
| sources (e.g. trying to claim a news source is not credible
| because they reported then-reasonable speculative estimates in a
| time of great uncertainty (and were clear about what they were)
| that were contradicted years later by a more careful scientific
| study).
| netsentialuser wrote:
| There is substantial public documentation of the extensive system
| of calibration targets that were built for CORONA and subsequent
| satellite programs, such that it's hard to imagine why so much
| confusion seems to exist in this area. In fact Arizona was used
| for both, but satellite imaging calibration targets of various
| types are found in California and throughout the country. The
| most extensive system of photogrammetric calibration targets in
| the US is at Edwards AFB, where features include 10 mile
| reference rulers. Smaller references were sometimes just painted
| on the tarmac at air force bases for simplicity.
|
| That said, these kinds of things are, necessarily, obvious and
| accessible to anyone. Calibration targets built for various
| programs are sometimes used for other programs, sometimes even by
| rival nations, simply because they're known to be there and it's
| easier to use something in place than to build something new. The
| fact that nearly all of these programs operated under great
| secrecy and before retention of classified records was typical
| (there were not yet as extensive of records retention mandates
| applicable to classified programs) means that the details can now
| be somewhat obscure, just because all of the original
| documentation was destroyed or lost after the program closed.
|
| An interesting variety of calibration targets are those intended
| for radar (SAR) use, since they take the form of 3D shapes rather
| than 2D images. Since SAR is a much more recent technical
| development in remote sensing there are far fewer public details,
| but various military and contractor installations have included,
| at times, oddly carefully sculpted gravel piles that are assumed
| to serve this purpose. An example is at the former Lockheed site
| in Potrero Canyon near Beaumont, CA.
|
| Many of the images covering the US taken by CORONA and several
| subsequent programs, mostly for calibration or testing but
| sometimes by error, were declassified under Clinton-era rules and
| given to the USGS. You can now browse them as part of USGS's
| general aerial imagery collection. The resolution is insufficient
| for most modern uses (the USGS's collection of agricultural
| aerial survey photos is far more useful), but they're unrivaled
| in the sheer land area they cover in one large frame.
| mbg721 wrote:
| I always thought they just used the enormous letters that spell
| out the name of the state, after they were placed there for the
| photo that goes in atlases and on globes.
| an9n wrote:
| I know that the extreme whiteness of Antarctica is used for
| calibration of optical satellites.
| anonymousiam wrote:
| Having worked on a lot of the successors to Corona, I was
| surprised to see a full exhibit (including hardware) on display
| at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center near D.C.
|
| Corona itself is completely unclassified now.
|
| https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center
|
| https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/si-97-15881-10...
|
| https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web10844-2008h...
| Otternonsenz wrote:
| As an Arizonan, it was only until 2 years ago in my Appraisal
| practice that I came across these crosses in Arizona City (south
| of Casa Grande). Really cool to see in person!
|
| While the article does not really state anything, just positing
| more questions about its actual use, it seems like it is anyone's
| guess due to the nature of the primary sources that knew the
| program being retirees or that the government gave this article
| writer all they felt comfortable with.
|
| This makes me wonder: How many of these types of programs existed
| through the Cold War?
| ryanmercer wrote:
| Reminds me of these weird (to me) ones in China
|
| https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2011/11/17/40452107...
| wyrm wrote:
| The article says the exact opposite of that. Those marks _weren
| 't_ used for satellites.
| dylan604 wrote:
| The author says that, but he admits he's also not an expert and
| more of an arm-chair historian. So his analysis might not be
| correct either.
|
| It could all be false flag stuff:
|
| *They actually were used for this stuff, but don't want to
| admit it.
|
| *They weren't acctually used for this stuff, but want to make
| people think they were.
|
| *They were designed for one purpose, built and paid for by that
| purpose, but then ultimately piggybacked being used by other
| services with plausible deniability.
|
| Calibration has to be done somehow...
| jaywalk wrote:
| I don't think anyone is particularly concerned with putting
| out false info for 1960s-era spy photography anymore. But I
| could be wrong. Or simply part of the coverup operation.
| mig39 wrote:
| The title of the link is: "Cold War spy satellites were
| calibrated with marks in the Arizona desert."
|
| And it's technically true. They were calibrated with marks in
| the Arizona desert. Just not those big crosses.
|
| > While a few sites are listed inside Arizona--near Fort
| Huachuca and Luke Air Force Base--they are comprised of the
| tri-bar optical test pattern used by the US government since
| the early 1950s, not 60-foot-wide concrete crosses.
| hcs wrote:
| The title of the article is "Candy CORN: analyzing the CORONA
| concrete crosses myth"
| L0in wrote:
| You read the article! We don't do that here.
| AshleyGrant wrote:
| Google Maps link with sites marked:
| https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1IudNrZA1xnpWjK...
| Justin_K wrote:
| Thanks for sharing! Looks like a QR code from space.
| dr_orpheus wrote:
| Aha, that must be the reason! When another country's spy
| satellite flys over, instead of an image it takes them to a
| particular youtube video...
|
| Like the person who put a QR code in to a mosaic tiled floor.
| black6 wrote:
| There are still some calibration pads at Stennis Space Center
| leftover from their heyday in remote sensing support:
|
| https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3689672,-89.5662234,128m/dat...
|
| https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3855351,-89.6284331,349m/dat...
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(page generated 2021-11-18 23:01 UTC)