Mystery Objects Simultaneously Emerge From Hangars Again At Secretive Tonopah Airport

In imagery we obtained exclusively from Planet Labs, their three-meter resolution Planet Scope imaging satellites picked up what appears to be a number of objects sitting in front of, or at least poking out of, the same dozen hangars as before. Some of the objects appear to be quite large, with the morning light casting their shadow.

On the north-end of Tonopah's long hangar-filled ramp, referred to by those who have worked on the base as 'canyons,' what are very likely three Air Force Special Operations Command CASA CN-235s sit. These aircraft, along with contractor-operated ones, are regular visitors to this part of the base. You can compare these aircraft to the shadows cast by some of the objects in front of the hangars. The CN-235s are roughly 70 feet long.

Mystery Objects Simultaneously Emerge From Hangars Again At Secretive Tonopah Airport

In December of last year The War Zone found similar odd objects in Planet Labs' satellite imagery of Tonopah Airport. The images from last year were taken at 10:15am. The new image was taken a little past noon. The December image was taken on a Friday. This new image was taken yesterday, on a Monday.

I searched the Aircraft Projects forum and this forum. Can not find where this was posted in December. Here is a link to the December story and the December image.



A Dozen Mystery Objects Suddenly Popped Out Of Hangars At Tonopah Test Range Airport

Not sure what these objects could be.

Tic-Tacs Maybe.

Anyone have an educated guess of what we are looking at?

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Either artifacts, something we're already aware of, or ground vehicles. They know down to the minute when overhead imagery is passing over, and there's absolutely no way in hell they'd screw up that badly, and Tonopah doesn't fly that many aircraft at once.

a reply to: Zaphod58

They know down to the minute when overhead imagery is passing over

I thought about that. Can't really tell what we are looking at and I am sure they knew that would be the case.

Either artifacts, something we're already aware of, or ground vehicles.

Must be.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

At a guess, they're ground vehicles or AGE. Outside of the F-117s, and range aircraft, everything there is a one off, or only a couple examples. And all the evidence is that there aren't that many F-117s flying. Most are stored with wings removed.

They could also be range related. At least one of those hangars was identified as having Russian built mobile missile launchers stored in it.

construction office trailer and a lay down yard or staging yard and equipment opposite the office so they can count em///he he...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well it is Tonopah. Thought it was worth a post.

Thanks for the info.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

It's always worth a post. You don't find out if you don't ask.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Remote viewer here. Can confirm this was just a bunch of pop-up canopies setup for the farmers market. Mostly Amish baked goods, bubble tea and im also sensing maybe a local acoustic guitarist.

talk about......this what you call....bubble tea....

would I like it?!! he he

a reply to: drewlander

a reply to: GBP/JPY

You know darn well what bubble tea is! Seriously tho. Just looks like a bunch of canopies to me. Could have been a craft beer competition for all we know.

There are NOTAM's through April I believe , referring to what sounds like runway repairs.

a reply to: FosterVS

They've been doing taxiway work since around the start of the year.

Rotated and pasted the two images, increased size by 175%.

That may not even be objects sticking out of the hanger doors.

Kinda looks like construction in the hanger and out front.

Could it just be water running out after a cleaning?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Either artifacts, something we're already aware of, or ground vehicles. They know down to the minute when overhead imagery is passing over, and there's absolutely no way in hell they'd screw up that badly, and Tonopah doesn't fly that many aircraft at once.

I always wonder about the possibility of things like this simply being military personnel (or whoever) just messing with us all! They are human, they like a laugh like everyone else and, as you say, they are aware down to the minute when satellites are passing overhead. Are you aware of this ever happening?

a reply to: Flavian

Not anything that elaborate, but knowing the military sense of humor I wouldn't be surprised if someone does, or did, at some point.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Either artifacts, something we're already aware of, or ground vehicles. They know down to the minute when overhead imagery is passing over, and there's absolutely no way in hell they'd screw up that badly, and Tonopah doesn't fly that many aircraft at once.

Yeah, But... CoronoVirus is a big enough threat to break protocol

a reply to: Zaphod58

I wouldn't be able to resist if i was in a position to do it! Nothing futuristic though, i'd be retro 1930s style (a la Flash Gordon but the good black and white version).

Worth noting the scale here, as they're not pop up tents, that was my first thought, they're actually large individual hangers with logistics bays in between, so its all nicely compartmentalized which isn't the case for white world aircraft at say military bases, no need for the secrecy i guess

scale measures from hanger to hanger is over 1 mile long


Each hanger is for a quite a sizable craft, i think i counted 100 odd, 2/3 different types of hangers for possibly 2/3 different type of craft? (no idea)

Circled in red is a large truck trailer for an idea size also, not the red but the smaller black object inside

Each of the smaller hanger is around 850m2 (square meters)



So clearly a lot of activity going on around these hangers, clearly not ground vehicles as the area outside the hangers is taken up by objects 4 times the size of the truck trailers and seems to be just one object in some cases, others probably are ground vehicles but compare sizes and its pretty obvious, making ready for something?, ignoring usual protocol, must be urgent, is my best guess

a reply to: TritonTaranis

Except that Tonopah is a test facility. Other than the F-117, most of which are disassembled, they don't keep large numbers of aircraft there. They have four or five C-12s that they use for range aircraft, but other than that, they get demonstrators and prototypes, and in many cases then only to perform upgrades or run tests. If they did have numbers like that, there's no need for them to show anything until they were taxiing.

a reply to: Flavian

I know what you mean. Get some inflatable UFOs so you get good shadows, and put them so they look like we were trying to get them into the hangar and were caught.