Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert? • Hacker News Board

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#11

Post by hansjorg » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

mslev wrote: post #3

I love stuff like this, I just think its so cool. Similar to this are the large cement arrows across the US: http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-06-17/transcontinenta...

It's not mentioned in the article, but I guess this means that compass navigation wasn't possible at the time?

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#12

Post by Bronze_Colossus » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:15 PM UTC

mslev wrote: post #3

I love stuff like this, I just think its so cool. Similar to this are the large cement arrows across the US: http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-06-17/transcontinenta...

Here is a few more picture more: http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/15/the-forgotten-giant...

I also find these kind of things cool. Forgotten structures that once served an important roll but now are mostly forgotten.

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#13

Post by okket » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

The in the story linked movie about the Corona Project is an amazing document of history.

https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.1678526

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#14

Post by mikestew » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

hansjorg wrote: post #11

mslev wrote: post #3

I love stuff like this, I just think its so cool. Similar to this are the large cement arrows across the US: http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-06-17/transcontinenta...

It's not mentioned in the article, but I guess this means that compass navigation wasn't possible at the time?

Not without aviation charts, which the article does mention were in short supply back in the early days of aviation. That, and I'm willing to bet that the licensing for pilots less than twenty years after the Wrights took off at Kitty Hawk was less than rigorous. So assuming that a licensed pilot, if such a thing even existed, was well-versed in navigation via charts and a compass was likely wrong.

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#15

Post by strictnein » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

One of the most interesting things about the Corona satellites was that they shot on film and that film was developed back on earth.

So how'd they get that film back down from space?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)#Recovery

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#16

Post by brianwawok » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

tugs wrote: post #8

dukoid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did anybody find one on Google Maps in Satellite mode?

I found two: 32.807001, -111.722184 and 32.791790, -111.705250 I'd like to find more to see the 'grid' mentioned in the article.

Hah the first one is next door to a gun range.

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#17

Post by sago » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:31 PM UTC

tugs wrote: post #8

dukoid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did anybody find one on Google Maps in Satellite mode?

I found two: 32.807001, -111.722184 and 32.791790, -111.705250 I'd like to find more to see the 'grid' mentioned in the article.

32.807147, -111.688916

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#18

Post by dredmorbius » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:31 PM UTC

The Corona project. A/K/A the KeyHole satellites. If my count is right, 135 satellite launches, though not all were successful.

Fun fact: this was the early 1960s. CCD technology and IP transmission bitrates were a bit primitive[1], so the film cameras would eject capsules after they'd been shot, which would re-enter the atmosphere and be recovered, most through mid-air retrieval. The project was active from 1959 to 1972.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-air_retrieval

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

Video of recovery: http://petapixel.com/2014/08/31/us-spy-satellites-used-drop-...

______________________________

Notes:

1. Well, technically they didn't exist.

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#19

Post by danielvf » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:35 PM UTC

hansjorg wrote: post #11

mslev wrote: post #3

I love stuff like this, I just think its so cool. Similar to this are the large cement arrows across the US: http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-06-17/transcontinenta...

It's not mentioned in the article, but I guess this means that compass navigation wasn't possible at the time?

They did have compasses, but those do not give you your position. So if you've been flying for four hours at night, with a thirty mph wind, you could be 120 miles away from where you planned on being. You need some way of getting an absolute position, which these provided.

Re: Decades-Old Mystery Put to Rest: Why Are There X's in the Desert?

#20

Post by sago » Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:36 PM UTC

tugs wrote: post #8

dukoid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did anybody find one on Google Maps in Satellite mode?

I found two: 32.807001, -111.722184 and 32.791790, -111.705250 I'd like to find more to see the 'grid' mentioned in the article.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1IudNrZA1xnpWjK...