Firm Releases Russian Imagery of U.S. Area 51
The following information comes from the Federation of American Scientists. I have put these images up on my site along with the FAS report simply because of the large number of people who have tried "unsuccessfully" to view these images, from the FAS site, plus the TerraServer.com which has been continuously overloaded, causing much frustration amoung the UFO Research Community. K Lyster.
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Aerial Images has posted on its Web site 2-meter imagery of Area 51 acquired by Russia's Space Information 2-meter satellite. Area 51, also known as Groom Lake, is a secret U.S. military facility in Nevada used in the 1950s for testing of the U-2 spy plane. The Area 51 images were acquired as part of the company's deal with Sovinformsputnik, a commercial arm of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.
FAS ordered an IKONOS 1-meter resolution image of Area-51 in mid-February 2000. As of mid-April 2000 SpaceImaging says that the request remains "in collection" and has offered a variety of explanations as to why it has taken over two months not to collect imagery. Long the Mecca for UFO chasers and government-conspiracy followers, Groom Lake, better known to the public as Area 51, is only a two hours drive north from Las Vegas at the foot of the Groom Mountains. Lying on 144 square miles of a dried up lakebed in the Great Basin Desert, Nevada, the area looks like nothing more then a conglomerate of aircraft hangers, storage facilities, and runways. But a second, closer look reveals more interesting details.
The first feature to stand out is the runway on the southern end of the complex, measuring more than 3 miles long. On one side of the runway are a number of hangers, several of them oversized with their roofs painted white. A large air traffic control antenna also stands out, standing at 150 feet with a 400 foot rectangular base it’s visible from 12 miles away on a clear day. Suddenly this sector of the Nellis Air Force Bombing & Gunnery Range looks a lot less like a typical air base and a lot more like something out of a B-movie.
So what is really going at Groom Lake?
For decades, the Air Force denied even the existence of this top-secret base and actively bought up the 9,000 acres of surrounding land to prevent curious on-lookers from getting too close. Under Executive Order Title 18, Section 794 all cameras and film found on persons in the area will be confiscated, as will any sketches of the site. This extensive shroud of secrecy has led many to conclude that top-secret technologies were being tested on the base or, a favorite among extraterrestrial seekers, the holding site for abandoned alien spacecrafts. Finally in August 1994 an Air Force spokesman admitted to the base, saying that the Air Forces does "have facilities within the complex near the dry lakebed of Groom Lake. The facilities of the Nellis Range Complex are used for testing, training technologies, operations and systems critical to the effectiveness of U.S. military forces". He failed to mention, however, what any of those specific activities might constitute.
As part of the Nevada Test Site and Nellis Air Force Range Complex, Groom Lake was surveyed 1944 and constructed 1954 under the aegis of CIA. In 1954 Lockheed arrived to develop the U-2, a high-altitude surveillance plane. Throughout the years, it is believed that that DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), DNA (Defense Nuclear Agency), and DOE (Department of Energy) have all participated in some of its on-site activities. In the 1950s and early 1960s the area was used by the Atomic Energy Commission to detonate nuclear bombs into the atmosphere. Today most of the Air Force activities at Groom Lake are assumed to concern new top-secret flight technologies. Aircrafts flight tested in the past include the U-2, B-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117, A-12, and the D-21.
There are also the unsubstantiated rumors about other aircraft on the site. It is widely believed that several of the white-roofed hangers house the "Red Hat Squadron", a number of recently-acquired Soviet aircraft, such as the Su-27.
Airplanes that may or may not exist are also rumored to call Groom Lake home. A list of possibles include the hypersonic Aurora and the wedge-shaped TR-3A Tactical Reconnaissance Plane. Local residences often talk about strange sounds and lights flying overhead, but no earthquake-like sonic waves or usual contrail reports substantiating the crafts’ existence have been confirmed yet.
Hollywood has contributed greatly to this belief of alien secrets in Area 51 from movies like Independence Day, and popular series such as the X-Files. An outspoken camp of self-proclaimed ‘experts’ who believe Area 51 to be the U.S. government’s center for alien technology. For them, Hanger 18 is the holding area for the alien bodies and captured alien technology taken from crash sites. Many believe that the Air Force has rebuilt the aircrafts under "Project Red Light" and occasionally flies them in the surrounding area as H-PACs (human piloted alien craft). Indeed everyone in the neighboring towns has a story of strange aircrafts flying overhead or claims to have seen a UFO in their backyard.
The secrets encircling Groom Lake’s reputation amongst the public has led to a number of alternative names by which many refer to the area as. The most popular is of course, Area 51. Other titles hark back to the days of spooks and Soviets, like Dreamland, the Ranch, Watertown, the Box, and S-4. An unofficial name for the area among Nellis-based pilots is ‘Red Square’ in reference to the maps given to pilots that delineates the box-shaped area’s borders in red, signaling that flyovers are prohibited.
So what is Groom Lake up to now? Are there aliens in the basement and invisible planes on the tarmac? Look at satellite photography and draw your own conclusions.
| 28 August 1968 - U-2 USGS |
15 March 1998 - SPIN-2 Imagery from TerraServer.com |
2000 - IKONOS FAS ordered an IKONOS image of Area-51 in mid-February 2000. As of mid-April 2000 SpaceImaging says that the request remains "in collection" and has offered a variety of explanations as to why it has taken over two months not to collect imagery. |
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New Runway One of the most obvious changes from 1968 to 1998 is the construction of a second runway to the east of and parallel to the original runway. The new runway, about 3,800 meters long, does not extend into the dry lake area, unlike the old runway. | ||
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New Construction The Area 51 facility has been siginificantly expanded between 1968 and 1998, with many existing facilities being improved, and a number of new facilities added. | ||
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North Base - Hangars and Housing The four large hangars at the north of the base, present in the 1968 image, have evidently been enlarged by the time of the 1998 image. In addition, the housing complex for base personnel -- the large array of smaller buildings to the south of the hangars, has been entirely rebuilt between 1968 and 1998, with the additional of new support facilities. A B-52 aircraft is visible in the 1968 image. No aircraft are visible in the 1998 image. | ||
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South Base Hangars Perhaps the most significant expansion in operational capabilities in noted in the southern part of the base. The half dozen hangars present in the 1968 image are all evident in the 1998 image, but the total number of hangars in this area has doubled during the intervening three decades. The most noteworthy addition is the hangar with the high peaked roof visible in the top of the 1998 image. | ||
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Tank Farm - South Base The tank farm visible in the 1968 image, consisting of seven large storage tanks and three smaller tanks, remains visible in the 1998 image. The wide separation of the larger tanks is suggestive of fuel for aircraft. The 1998 image show significant new construction, incomplete as of the date of the image, suggesting a major enlargement in the support capacity of the Groom Lake facility. | ||
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New Construction - South Base An entirely new facility, of uncertain nature and purpose, was added to the Groom Lake complex at some point between 1968 and 1998. | ||
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