[The following item, the latest issue of my newsletter NEON AZIMUTH, was just sent out by electronic mail to my subscribers. NEON AZIMUTH discusses the "sources and methods" (to borrow an intelligence phrase) that can be used to uncover military secrets. Let me know if you wish to be added to the mailing list.] NEON AZIMUTH #3 - remote sensing - January 16, 1995 - by Paul McGinnis ______________________________________________________________________ [this document ends with ** END OF FILE ** -- if your copy is missing that, it may have been truncated in transmission] "Despite America's overall character as an open society, there exist many good-sized military reservations to which access is denied. These could be probed through the use of satellite photography." -- quote from OTA report "The Future of Remote Sensing from Space", July 1993. This is an introduction to the science of remote sensing, a "poor man's NRO" if you will. Remote sensing includes satellite and aerial photography, digital radars (such as SAR - Synthetic Aperture Radar), and thermal maging. The technologies used are evolving rapidly and are used for environmental, as well as military purposes. For example, earth scientists use geographic information systems (GIS), which are large computer databases, to combine different kinds of data, such as moisture content of soil, steepness of terrain, and land use, to study problems such as soil erosion. Technologies that were once shrouded in secrecy by organizations such as the Central Intelligence Agency or the National Reconnaissance Office, are now widely used and easily available. You don't have to own a private U-2 airplane to use remote sensing, since computer datasets are routinely sold, at relatively inexpensive prices. If you've ever wondered what was hidden in a restricted area, remote sensing is for you. The EROS Data Center ____________________ The U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota sells a vast collection of aerial and satellite photographs, remote sensing datasets, and more. You should consider it as "one stop shopping" for most of your remote sensing needs, especially if you are an American civilian. They also provide assistance in searching for the material that you need. As an introduction to what they have, you can request free copies of their factsheets "Earth Science Publications-Factsheets" and "Earth Science Information from the U.S. Geological Survey". They can be reached at: Department of the Interior/USGS EROS Data Center Sioux Falls, SD 57198 USA telephone: (605) 594-6151 FAX: (605) 594-6589 Aerial photography __________________ Aerial photography is the oldest form of remote sensing. The earliest known aerial photograph was taken in 1858, by a camera on a ballon over Bievre, France. In addition to aerial photographs taken by private companies, U.S. government agencies such as NASA and the Department of Agriculture (Forest Service) have taken aerial photos. One of the best collections of aerial photographs are the pictures taken by the NHAP (National High Altitude Photogaphy program, run from 1980 to 1989) and NAPP (National Aerial Photography Program, 1987 to present). NHAP photos were taken from 40,000 feet (12,308 meters) and NAPP photos are taken from 20,000 feet (6,159 meters). NHAP and NAPP are programs to try and photograph all of the continental United States over a number of years -- they are designed to provide one source of aerial photographs for many civilian government agencies. For an explanation of how to find and order aerial photographs, contact EROS Data Center [see above] and ask for information on aerial photography, including NHAP and NAPP, such as their factsheet "How to Select and Order NAPP and NHAP Photographs". You will be sent forms to fill out describing what you want. This includes the geographic location, photograph type, date of photograph, etc. The easiest way to find what you are looking for is to answer yes to the question "Do you have equipment to view microfiche?". If you answer yes, you will be sent microfiches containing photos of USGS 1:100,000 maps. There are dots showing where each frame on a roll of film was taken. There are also outline "boxes" showing the area covered by a typical frame. Some of the location dots will have numbers, such as 210-129, which means roll 210, frame 129, while other dots have no numbers. (You have to count down from the nearest numbered dot.) Each dot is the center of a photograph, and you can determine exactly which frame you want, using the map. If there are no dots in an area, it means that no photograph is available for the area. I recommend that you borrow a microfiche viewer at your local public library, to view these index microfiches. (If you explain to the librarian that you have microfiches of your own to view, you won't have to worry about being accused of stealing library materials when you take the microfiches home.) If you want a cheap way of viewing microfiches, you can order a handheld 20x magnification microfiche viewer from: Ercona Corp. 979 New North Ocean Avenue Patchogue, NY 1177 USA telephone: (516) 758-0700 Their viewer looks like a mutated magnifying glass, but it works and it is portable. They cost $45.95 apiece plus shipping (call Ercona for the shipping rate to your area.) Once you know the roll and frame number of the picture that you want, you can order photographic prints, or negative transparencies from EROS Data Center. Prices are comparable to those at commercial photo labs. For example, a 9"x9" (23 cm x 23 cm) B&W print is $6.00, while a 36"x36" (92 x 92 cm) color infrared print costs $65.00. You can order black-and-white (B&W) ("panchromatic") or color infrared (CIR) prints in 3 sizes (9" x 9", 18" x 18", 36" x 36") (23 cm x 23 cm, 46 cm x 46 cm, 92 x 92 cm). The image scales range from 1:10,000 to 1:80,000 for different sized photos. Can you really get aerial photographs of classified areas? I've obtained a few. My favorite is an 18"x18" picture of Randsburg Wash Test Range ("Sea Site I"), part of the U.S. Navy's complex at China Lake, California. The Navy described this installation as a "highly classified, sensitive, electronic warfare facility" to the Bureau of Land Management, yet I obtained a print of NAPP picture 1844-205 of the facility, taken on August 29, 1989. It shows a small number of buildings, and roads spread over a large area. There are gaps in existing coverage though -- for example, parts of the Nevada Test Site and the Nellis Range were photographed in 1980, but not all of it, including Groom Lake. NAPP was supposed to photograph Nevada in 1994, and the index microfiches will be available sometime around the beginning of April 1995. It will be interesting to see if they have complete coverage, including Groom Lake, or whether Air Force paranoia prevailed, and they were prevented from photographing anywhere near the Groom Lake test facility. Satellite photography _____________________ There is a fantasy that I have, of being able to cheaply obtain satellite imagery of classified areas, comparable to the 6" (15 cm) resolution a military KH-12 spy atellite can provide. Unfortunately, the phrase to remember is "Satellites cost a lot of money!". Satellite imagery is defined in terms of spatial resolution - for example, a spatial resolution of 10 meters means that the closest two objects can be, and be identified as separate objects, is 10 meters. The accepted rule is that the smallest object that can be detected in a single computer picture element ("pixel") is half the diameter of the spatial resolution. Sometimes, objects that are highly reflective or absorb a lot of light show up intermittently. For example, small roads show up in 30 meter resolution Landsat pictures as faint lines because of this. The spatial resolution of a satellite is also referred to as the ground sample distance (GSD). It's interesting that civilian remote sensing satellites don't have as high a resolution as the military reconnaissance satellites, but instead can image in multiple spectral bands. This makes it easier to detect camouflage -- it's easier to hide something in one band (such as the visual spectrum), but harder to camouflage something from all 7 bands of the Landsat TM sensor, for example. During the 1991 Gulf War, the multispectral capability of the American Landsat and the French SPOT satellites were used extensively. Landsat satellite images are probably the easiest to obtain. Unfortunately, the inexpensive and easily obtained Landsat 4 and 5 MSS (Multispectral Scanner) images have a poor spatial resolution of 82 meters. All Landsat MSS images older than 2 years are available from EROS Data Center -- you can find what you need from GLIS [see below]. Negative transparencies in 18.5 cm size are available for only $18.00 apiece -- I've ordered these and had them printed by a commercial photo lab. A 2x enlargement can be used for wide area searching, to try and areas that deserve a closer look, for unknown classified facilities. For example, you can obtain such a photo of Groom Lake, Nevada (Area 51) as Entity ID LM84366017293X0, taken in July 23, 1992, with the sun t a high angle to eliminate shadows. If you have plenty of money, you can order Landsat TM data on computer tapes. Landsat's TM (Thematic Mapper) sensor has a spatial resolution of 30 meters and if you want the latest indexed TM dataset showing Groom Lake, you could order item LTY5393817350X0 from the EROS Data Center. For $4,400, you get 6250 bpi computer tapes covering 10,000 square miles (25,600 square km) of Southern Nevada, shot in 7 spectral bands (covering wavelengths from 0.45 to 2.35 microns),taken on December 12, 1994. Unfortunately for my readers, I have neither the computing resources to process reel-to-reel tapes for such a large dataset, nor the funds to purchase the dataset... Perhaps I should start an "Image the secret airbase" fund. Landsat 6 was supposed to carry an ETM (Enhanced Thematic Mapper) with a resolution of 15 meters, but Landsat 6 experienced a launch failure on October 5, 1993. Landsat 7 is scheduled to be launched in 1997 with a panchromatic sensor with a resolution of 5 meters and the ability to take stereoscopic (3-D) images. The French SPOT (Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre) satellites seem to be the currently preferred commercial choice, particularly among arms control researchers. They offer a 10 meter resolution panchromatic sensor that images in one spectral band (0.51 to 0.73 microns) that produces quite usable images. For example, I have seen photos (in a book) of Kharg Island, in the Persian Gulf that show the locations of new antiaircraft batteries. Examples of SPOT pricing include $1,500 for a film image of of a 15 km by 15 km "quarter scene", $2,600 for a computer tape of a 60 km by 60 km "full scene", and $1,200 for pre-1990 SPOT "full scenes" on CD-ROM. There are additional charges in case a SPOT satellite has to be tasked to image an area or if you want to do tricks like stereoscopic imaging (with multiple satellite passes). SPOT can also image off-nadir, which means that a side-looking view can be obtained, instead of just imaging in the vertical drection. Another advantage of SPOT is that they are a French company, which means that they probably don't care too much about U.S. "national security" concerns. SPOT satellites also use a three band infrared imaging sensor with a resolution of 20 meters. SPOT can be reached at: SPOT Image Corporation 1897 Preston White Drive Reston, VA 22091-4368 USA telephone: (703) 715-3100 -or- SPOT IMAGE 5 rue des Satellites F-31031 Toulouse Cedex FRANCE telephone: (+33) 62 19 40 40 The highest resolution available on existing commercial satellites is that provided by the Russian KVR-1000 orbiting cameras. These satellites are used by Russian intelligence and send back film canisters to Earth in re-entry pods. The images that are sold have been processed to decrease their resolution to 2 meters -- the actual resolution is believed to be 0.4 meters. Both photographic prints and scanned computer images are available. SPOT Image has a contract with Sojuzkarta to sell 5-6 meter imagery at prices ranging from $1,560 to $3,800 per scene. I've misplaced the address for the 2 meter resolution photos. I'm not sure of the ground area that the KVR-1000 images cover, but apparently, scene sizes can range from 4 km by 4 km to 40 km by 40 km. Caveat Emptor - there have been reports of long delays in delivery of KVR-1000 pictures, as well as a policy of not selling photos of Russia. In the next 2 to 3 years, high resolution (less than 4 meters) satellites such as Eyeglass and SIS will be launched. It will be interesting to see how nations cope with anyone being able to order detailed images of previously prohibited areas. One military document I saw indicated a fear of "mediasats" during future military operations. It will become quite easy for agencies like CNN to show current satellite imagery of of a war zone on the evening news. Other technologies __________________ Remote sensing includes more than just optical methods, and I've been tinkering with digital radar data lately. One of the problems with arial and satellite photography is that areas can be covered with clouds negating any image. This isn't a problem too often for restricted areas in the U.S., which tend to be in the deserts of the western U.S., but is a real big problem elsewhere. Digital radars such as SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) can "see" through the clouds, and produce an image similar to a black-and-white photograph. An example of a digital radar is the highly classified U.S. satellite program code-named LACROSSE. Digital radars also can detect metallic objects quite easily and "see" some distance underground. (This is how NASA located the lost city of Urum under the Arabian desert.) Computer datasets taken with SLAR (Side Looking Airborne Radar) are available from EROS Data Center. I will discuss my use of SLAR data in more detail below. Another type of digital remote sensing data that can be used is Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and Digital Line Graphs (DLG) to produce 3-dimensional views of the terrain in an area. For example, NASA imaging specialist Dave Schmitz (schmitz@nas.nasa.gov) has produced excellent models of the terrain around Groom Lake. Color GIF images of hese are available by Internet FTP to host ftp.shell.portal.com in the directory /pub/trader/pictures/smitty. Intelligence techniques _______________________ Determing where to collect remotely sensed data can be a real challenge. If you know an area is classified, half the battle is won. Otherwise, you have to look for clues to indicate that something is there. For example, Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) maps show power lines leading into the Groom Lake, Nevada area, but there are no markings to show that a large, secret installation is up there. You can also look for other clues, such as maps showing roads (especially paved) going into military reservations or restricted areas, and not appearing to go to anything in particular. U.S. intelligence analysts used to follow railroad tracks in U-2 and satellite imagery, to find out where they led to in the former Soviet Unon. long. This anomaly was dark line, perfectly straight, running in a northwest direction. My estimate placed it near 106 degrees 33' West, 33 degrees 8' North. According to my DMA charts, nothing was supposed to be there. (This area is east of Skillet Knob peak, south of Mt. Baldy). However, the DMA charts showed another anomaly to the east, a large circular area, surrounded by a ring with 10 "X"s on it. My guess is that this could be a direction finding array of antennas. I obtained 2 NHAP aerial photographs of the area (308-128 and 308-126), taken on May 11, 1986. Neither photo showed the "runway" that appeared in the 1992 Landsat image, but picture 308-128 showed the circular anomaly as a large cleared area, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, with an access road around the perimeter and a building where the map showed a heliport. For some reason, the DMA chart did not show an adjacent, smaller cleared circular area approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) in diameter. Whether or not the Landsat image shows a runway at a previously unknown classified location is unclear. It occupies a much larger pixel width than other roads in the area, but it could be a very wide road. It could also be an airstrip used for bombing practice by aircraft, such as the one at Gold Flat, on the Nellis Range, Nevada. Whatever the "runway" is, it doesn't appear in the 1986 aerial photos. The 1992DMA map shows extensive new road construction in the area that doesn't appear in the 1986 aerial photos, and are too small to resolve in the 1992 Landsat image. Thus, it still remains a mystery and further research is needed. The computer revolution _______________________ The most important trend in remote sensing is the digitization of the data. If you can obtain the data in an electronic format, you can do any manipulation you want to it. For example, if you have a dataset and you notice that known roads have a numerical value of 30 to 39 for each pixel (sample) that contains a road, you could have every pixel with that range appear in red on your computer screen, to highlight all the roads that were imaged. There are programs, such as JPL's PC-based IMDISP that let you do just that, plus numerous other data enhancing tricks. For another example of computer enhancement, Internet users can FTP to ftp.shell.portal.com, and look in the directory /pub/trader/pictures/SLAR. This directory contains some examples of my work with digital remote sensing, and SLAR in particular. There are before and after GIF images (and "raw" binary datasets) of the Indian Springs AAF military air field in Nevada, that I used for training in remote sensing. I developed a method for enhancing the resolution of an image by adapting bilinear interpolation algorithms to double the number of pixels in an image. (The new pixels are averaged from adjacent pixels.) The ANSI C source code for this is in the file /pub/trader/pictures/datafill.c . Be sure to read the file 00readme.SLAR if you plan on downloading anything from the SLAR directory - it will provide a more detailed explanation of what is available. Online USGS resources _____________________ The U.S. Geological Survey has provided a number of remote sensing resources to Internet users. For example, you can use World Wide Web (WWW) client software to connect to URL http://www.usgs.gov/ and find out a lot about what's available and the work of the FGDC (Federal Geographic DataCommittee). (FGDC is currently working on standards for computerized remote sensing and geographic data sets, such as the ASTM D18.01.05 Specification. This work will reduce the confusion caused by numerous different formats for datasets.) Another place to check is to telnet to glis.cr.usgs.gov . Once you've registered for an account, you can obtain reports on the technical details of remote sensing and search through data collections, such as the Landsat images, to find exactly what you're looking for. If you have a X-Windows client, telnet to xglis.cr.usgs.gov, and you will be able to see preview images of some data sets, such as the 1 km resolution AVHRR material, and maps of image coverage areas. (GLIS is an abbreviation for Global Land Information System.) Further reading _______________ "Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation", 3rd edition, by Thomas Lillesand and Ralph Kiefer, 1994, John Wiley & Sons, New York -- this is an excellent college textbook on the science of remote sensing. "The Future of Remote Sensing from Space: Civilian Satellite Systems and Applications", OTA-ISC-558, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, July 1993, Government Printing Office -- a good overview of current civilian programs to monitor the Earth. Appendix C on the "Military Uses of Civilian Remote Sensing Data" is especially useful. Available for $14.00 (US) or $17.50 (foreign), stock number 052-003-013333-9, from: New Orders Superintendent of Documents P.O. Box 371954 Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954 telphone: (202) 783-3238 "New Satellite Images For Sale: The Opportunities and Risks Ahead", UCRL-JC-118140 (CSTS-47-94), Vipin Gupta, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, December 1994, Center for Security and Technology Studies -- recommended for its broad coverage of the subject. This article is supposed to appear in the journal "International Security", but it is also available on the World Wide Web through the CSTS section on URL http://www.llnl.gov/ . "Remote Sensing Field Guide: Desert", ReportETL-0588, J. N. Rinker et al, 1991, U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Labs -- I haven't yet seen this 568 page technical report, but the abstract indicates it would be quite useful in locating installations in remote desert regions of the U.S. (Available for $61.00 (U.S., Canada, or Mexico) or $122.00 (elsewhere). Add $6.00 for postage to the U.S., $10.00 for postage to Canada and Mexico, and $14.00 for postage elsewhere. Available as order number AD-A244 855/3/XAB from: National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 USA telephone: (703) 487-4650 "Verification Technologies: Cooperative Aerial Surveillance in International Agreements", OTA-ISC-480, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, July 1991 -- Appendix B, "Photointerpretation and Image Processing" is quite revealing, and even shows examples such as the use of a digital Fourier/Hartley transform to filter some frequencies of light from an image to highlight submarines. Availalble from NTIS as order number PB91-220020 (sorry, but I don't have the price for this item). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com / trader@shell.portal.com PaulMcG@aol.com / 76056.201@compuserve.com (Sorry I haven't been too active online recently, but I've been busy with a number of projects. I sometimes post to the Skunk Works Digest mailing list. If you want an electronic mail subscription to SWD, send a message to majordomo@mail.orst.edu , with the following in the message body: subscribe skunk-works ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Project NEON AZIMUTH __________________________ NEON AZIMUTH is the code-name of a project I've created to provide information on the "sources and methods" that can be used to learn about secret U.S. military programs. I realize the risk I am taking by publicizing this information -- the U.S. government could decide to close off these sources. Why amI providing this information? The American taxpayers have a right to know where their money is being spent, and the "sources and methods" given in NEON AZIMUTH can help locate secret U.S. military programs. Subscription requests for NEON AZIMUTH and comments on the material can be sent to me by electronic mail to: TRADER@cup.portal.com U.S. Snail (postal mail): Paul McGinnis P.O. Box 28084 Santa Ana, CA 92799 USA Anonymous FTP access to files dealing with excessive military secrecy is available from Internet host ftp.shell.portal.com (IP address 156.151.3.4) in the /pub/trader directory. Read the 00readme files for descriptions of the files. Writings from Glenn Campbell, author of the "Area 51 Viewer's Guide" are available in /pub/trader/secrecy/psychospy. Back issues of NEON AZIMUTH are available in the directory: /pub/trader/secrecy/neon-azimuth World Wide Web users of such software as Mosaic or Lynx can use this URL to get to the FTP site: ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/trader/ America Online users can use Keyword:FTP and connect to ftp.shell.portal.com . Click on the "pub" folder icon, and then the "trader" icon to get to the /pub/trader directory. Those who have only electronic mail access to the rest of the net (such as Compuserve users at the present time) can try ftp-by-email by sending a message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with the word help in the body of the message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have really sensitive material you want to pass on to me, here is my PGP public encryption key: -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6 mQCNAiwky3cAAAEEALSQbStQ0KUqh0MI/+SoqvsBmJkdsCG/kb7svjf9LFwkjd4f gXHnuaITkDKoLuy69CmUbuc2dyBStO6vcoP55VvEPLmQ7NFP/LOs84UXCNw9wkLi imGqhBHtWZthSAzORllFd5ED57dkF/pGu2gcfdwf7y0B0NjBmrxoE/cKk9YdAAUR tCVQYXVsIE1jR2lubmlzIDxUUkFERVJAY3VwLnBvcnRhbC5jb20+ =nOwT -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- ** END OF FILE **