Whats this tower at Area 51?

Well i got a new cpu today and the uber fast surfing on the google map site of course led me too Area51 for any new imagery.
Seems Google does in fact update every couple years and this tower was not in the photos I viewed this time 2 years ago.
A very odd triangle monolith tower that seems too have lights or ????
Seems relatively tall as well.
Any insight?


goo.gl...

Posted the image for you.

Source

I've no idea what that is but I'm sure someone will.

Antenna....the entire area around area 51 creates a natural geographical dish...the antenna is then bounced off the moon to other side of planet to pick up any radio signals that made it through the atmosphere....This is spy technology before HAARP. This technology is still classified

Looks like a Marriott

Could it be a control tower?

or maybe its something to do with assembly of rockets?

no idea but will be looking for input from others more " in the know"

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Posted the image for you.

Source

I've no idea what that is but I'm sure someone will.

edit on 2-6-2012 by VoidHawk because: (no reason given)

It's interesting that in every photo of Area 51 that I have seen, the sat dishes are pointed straight up. Anyone know why? I'm wondering if it's possible to figure out where they are pointing to, by using an overhead sat image? Or if it's possible to get the Lat and Long and then coordinate it with something in space?

You clearly haven't seen enough photos of Area 51. ;-) The dishes move. As far as I have noticed, they always point in the same direction. Those dishes are used in dynamic radar cross section analysis. I put a link to a Scientific Atlanta paper on the subject somewhere on ATS.



Here is another shot of the tower:



Rather than create wild unproven theories on the use of the triangular tower, the most likely use for it is in radar cross section analysis. It is in the same physical location where that type of work is done. RCS is part of Groom's mission.

The tower is in the range of 150ft to 180ft tall. Not too shabby for a structure without guy wires. If you study the google earth images or the various shots on the net, the tower appears to rotate.

The tower isn't tall enough for transmitter use, plus it is far easier just to put radios on the nearby mountains.

Originally posted by gariac
You clearly haven't seen enough photos of Area 51. ;-) The dishes move. As far as I have noticed, they always point in the same direction. Those dishes are used in dynamic radar cross section analysis. I put a link to a Scientific Atlanta paper on the subject somewhere on ATS.



Here is another shot of the tower:



Rather than create wild unproven theories on the use of the triangular tower, the most likely use for it is in radar cross section analysis. It is in the same physical location where that type of work is done. RCS is part of Groom's mission.

The tower is in the range of 150ft to 180ft tall. Not too shabby for a structure without guy wires. If you study the google earth images or the various shots on the net, the tower appears to rotate.

The tower isn't tall enough for transmitter use, plus it is far easier just to put radios on the nearby mountains.

Now I'm really curious. Is the tower the OP in talking about really new?

gariac - The url to your first photo has a June 2007 date. The url to your second photo has a date of July 2010. The only difference between the two photos is the movement of the sat dishes, which I know they move. I was just stating that all but a hand full of photos that I have seen of Area 51 have the dishes pointing straight up.

Air traffic control tower. that was easy

reply to post by KnightFire


The triangular tower is new enough. It has been there a few years (2006 or so).

reply to post by surewhynot


Negative. Note the panels in the triangular. They are probably use in a phased array.

The ATC tower is at 37.240504° -115.808890°

Hydroponic greenhouse for the bunkers???

Heres another cool looking tower of some type just NW of the "array" tower.
Also of note is the triagular buildg or ??? just West of the "needle" tower.
goo.gl...
This images seem newer to me Im not sure why its a reason too gripe but okay.

reply to post by VType


The tower in this area is probably just a simple radio tower. In this spot of the range, they have radar on berms. It is probably related to "Have Glib", a project to exploit foreign radar. Basically you see how your aircraft looks to foreign radar, and you test the radar warning systems in the plane. Site-4 by the TTR has the same charter, but I've only seen conventional aircraft flying over there.

Incidentally there is a microwave reflector (Microflect) that faces this valley.
37.217707° -115.847041° on google earth.
It is just barely visible from the Power Line Overlook



For reasons beyond me, people think this reflector points to Groom, but if you study the topo map, you will see this is not possible.

Has anyone tried using Google's patent search to try and find something similar? A long shot; yes. Time consuming; yes. But hey, you never know. Biggest issue there is what terms would you use for the search and is the technology classified.

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


Searching radar will get an amazing number of hits on the USPTO website. I suppose you could limit it to the last decade.

Note that there are classified patents. I have zero first hand knowledge on how you get one, and in fact the notion that you can patent something that is a secret seems wrong to me. I get the idea of keeping formulas a secret, i.e. you wouldn't want to put the ingredients for Coca Cola out in public. That comes under trade secrets.

Here is the official blurb on national security patents:
www.uspto.gov...

Originally posted by KnightFire

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Posted the image for you.

Source

I've no idea what that is but I'm sure someone will.

edit on 2-6-2012 by VoidHawk because: (no reason given)

It's interesting that in every photo of Area 51 that I have seen, the sat dishes are pointed straight up. Anyone know why? I'm wondering if it's possible to figure out where they are pointing to, by using an overhead sat image? Or if it's possible to get the Lat and Long and then coordinate it with something in space?

This is why I like ATS...... people come up with great questions.... This would be worth checking into...

Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by surewhynot

 

Negative. Note the panels in the triangular. They are probably use in a phased array.

The ATC tower is at 37.240504° -115.808890°

If your guess is correct. Any idea what advantages a structure/system like that would give verses the old systems?

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


They need to swing the dishes for dynamic RCS, i.e. track the plane. With a phased array, they can electronically swing the beam, which is much faster than mechanical steering. Now a good question is does the beam forming have enough foo that they can switch from side to side of the tower without loosing track? Or do they have to rotate the tower a bit to keep track. I'm guessing the latter. That is, they use one side of the tower, steer with beam forming, and rotate as needed. Then each side of the tower could be set up for different frequencies. What ruins that theory is all the sides of the tower look the same.

Of course, this is just speculation on my part, with a bit of science to back it up.

I looked around youtube for a decent explanation of phased array radar. No luck. Here is one from the NWS:
www.youtube.com...

The theory behind beam forming is very old. The problem was it was difficult to do prior to the creation of high speed data converters and digital delay. [Phase is just an angular measurement of time delay based on the frequency.] If you look at the history of applied beam forming, at least as I have observed it, it started with sonar. They used towed arrays since the spacing between elements is a function of the frequency. With sonar. that means a lot of real estate. Next came ultrasound, then on up the frequency food chain to radar as data converters and computers/DSP got faster.

Here is a towed array sonar:
www2.l-3com.com...

reply to post by VType

this is probably something purposely built to draw your attention to it, while the magician is doing something else somewhere else

Originally posted by gariac
Note that there are classified patents. I have zero first hand knowledge on how you get one, and in fact the notion that you can patent something that is a secret seems wrong to me.

It's not so much that you patent a secret by your own choice, it's more something that happens to you. The initial examiner evaluates the patent for possible restriction, if they think it's likely they'll pass the application over to SLAG, or group 220. SLAG takes a more in-depth look, brings in subject matter experts if need be, and adjudicates whether you end up with your patent gagged.

Some things will net you a gag off the bat, nuclear weapons patents are a given.