Area 51

the Dreamland Scrapbook

Millienium Road Trip

Odds and Ends from a visit to Area 51

Mike Looks at Area 51

 

We made it to the top of Tikaboo Peak!! (Barely made it, at least for me.) It's the last public place to view the Groom Lake facility. While Grandpa rests, Mike checks for secret planes, through the haze, way, way out in the distance.  
Badger Mountain Antenna There's been a lot of talk about the new installation on top of Badger Mountain, a few miles to the northeast of Tikaboo Peak. Some people speculated that it may be a camera installed by the Air Force to see when someone is climbing Tikaboo so they can hide all the secret stuff. But while my pictures are a little hazy -- I was shooting almost into the sun -- it seems to be a mundane microwave repeater station with two sets of dishes plus a solar power panel to the right.
What do they see??

 

 

What ARE these people looking at?
The Groom Lake Road Guard Shack

 

 

It's the guard shack on Groom Lake Road. The larger white one, in the foreground, is the new building. The old small one is in the background. If you see these "up close and in person" you've gone to far and will probably be arrested.


Tonopah Test Range and Site 4
The Other Secret Base

Tonopah Test Range
Tonopah Test Range
(27 K)

Site 4 Radar Range
Site 4
(36 K)

Site 4 Radar Range
Radar Range
(59 K)

The Tonopah Test Range, the TTR, is another secret airbase located within the Nellis Range. While it has nowhere near the security of the Groom Lake facility, (the guards will even talk to you!) its remote location in the northwest corner of the range, plus housing and amenities for a large contingent of personal, make it ideal for 'black' projects that have become operational. This was the case with the F-117 Stealth Fighter, before it was made public after the Panama intervention. The planes were kept in the many hangers during the day, with training missions flown at night. The public and the press, in general, didn't have a clue.

In the top photo on the left, (click the thumbnail), you can see the tower, administration buildings and some of the hangers. There appears to be some aircraft parked on the ramp, although I can't determine the type. This, and the two photos of Site 4, were taken from Silver Bow, nearly 20 miles away, using a Meade ETX telescope (f14, 1280mm) with 200 speed Fujicolor film and an exposure of 1/30. Faster film, 400 Kodacolor or 800 Ektachrome, with resulting shorter exposure, would have helped the heat ripple blurring.

The two other pictures are of Site 4. No, not Bob Lazar's "S4", but Site 4 of the TTR. This is where radar tests are made, using not only our own equipment, but units that have been "obtained" from the bad guys. There's no better way to know if your stealth airplane will really be invisible on their radar. I'd like to describe what's in those last two pictures, but other than to say, "Here's some radar installations.", I'll have to leave it to experts to try and figure out what's going on there. It did surprise me though that even on a weekend, when these pictures were taken, there was considerable activity. Using the telescope visually I could see vehicles and even people moving around the radar sites.

Area 51 from a Landsat Satellite
Area 51 Thumbnail
Groom Lake
(287 K)

Nellis AFB
Nellis AFB
(40 K)

Contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. Government does publish satellite photos that show the Air Force test facility at Groom Lake, commonly known as Area 51. This 1100 by 1200 pixel image is composed of 6 photographs taken by a Landsat Thematic Mapping satellite on August 18, 1993. The originals were posted on a military Web server at Fort Irwin, CA. They were available until just recently, but it seems the Army finally realized that they were showing images of a base that the Air Force was trying to keep secret. It was fun while it lasted.

These images are in false colors, even more false after I adjusted the small photos for a more seamless large image. While the buildings at Groom Lake and other manmade objects are not very detailed, the multi spectral nature of these images brings out a number of features that even the high resolution black and white images from Spin 2 and Ikonos don't show, or don't show as well. It's interesting to compare the images and to note the roads and other man made structures covering a wide area. In particular, compare the old World War II practice airstrips just east of Groom Lake and look for any roads, structures or any signs of activity around Papoose Lake, the long narrow dry lake just south of Area 51.

Another satellite image that may be of interest is this Landsat picture of Nellis Air Force Base. Again, its in false color, but this time I made no changes to the original images.

Click the thumbnail images for the full picture.
The Thematic Mapping colors are explained in the following paragraph, taken from a USGS Web page.

"Typically, TM Bands 4, 3, and 2 can be combined to make false color composite images where band 4 represents red, band 3, green, and band 2, blue. This band combination makes vegetation appear as shades of red, brighter reds indicating more vigorously growing vegetation. Soils with no or sparse vegetation will range from white (sands) to greens or browns depending on moisture and organic matter content. Water bodies will appear blue. Deep, clear water will be dark blue to black in color, while sediment laden or shallow waters will appear lighter in color. Urban areas will appear blue gray in color. Clouds and snow will be bright white. They are usually distinguishable from each other by the shadows associated with the clouds."

If you're brave enough to dig into the details of the Landsat images, you can visit the USGS Landsat_TM web site for all the esoteric information.

Pictures from Tikaboo Peak -- October 7, 1996

The North Building Complex at Groom Lake
(click the thumbnail)
North Runway
(25k)

The South Building Complex at Groom Lake
(click the thumbnail)
South Runway
(25k)



This page is an ongoing effort. Additions will be made whenever I have something new and/or interesting about a certain "remote test facility on the Nellis Range".


Back to Area 51   Email Dave Bethke
 on the fringe of Houston
updated 07/05/00