The photos of the Nevada test site don't show any readily apparent signs of flying saucers or little green men among the Air Force base buildings and roadways.
Raleigh-based Aerial Images Inc. -- in collaboration with Kodak, Digital Equipment Corp., Autometric Inc. and the Russian agency Sovinformsputnik -- posted five images of the hush-hush desert proving ground on the Web on Monday.
"This is the first glimpse into the most secret training and testing facility for the Air Force," said John Hoffman, president of Aerial Images.
However, the partners' Web site didn't respond much of the time Tuesday.
"The site is being hammered [by people trying to log on], and hackers are attacking it," Hoffman said.
Attacks slow system down
There were signs of hackers trying to penetrate the site's firewall, the software designed to prevent unauthorized outsiders from tampering with computer files. They couldn't reach the data, but they were able to slow the system, Hoffman said.
He noted that the Area 51 photos had attracted an estimated 3 million "page views" to the Web site since Monday morning, compared with the normal usage of 700,000 to 800,000 per day.
Viewing the images is free; downloading them costs $8.95 and up. Kodak will make prints for $20 to $30.
The Air Force only recently acknowledged that Area 51 -- the Groom Dry Lake Air Force Base -- even exists. The 8,000-square-mile base is 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas, in the rugged Nellis Range.
Beginning with the U-2 spy plane in the 1950s, the base has been the testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117A stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber.
The site is known as Area 51 among UFO aficionados because that was the base's designation on old Nevada test site maps. Some believe alien vehicles, unidentified flying objects, are hidden at the base and their parts are copied for U.S. prototypes.
A critical classified operation
Aerial Images launched a Russian satellite in 1998 to map the Earth's surface under an open-skies agreement signed in 1992 by 24 nations, including the United States and Russia.
The images have resolution good enough to distinguish a car from a truck.
Several government agencies are aware of the new images and haven't responded, said Hoffman, 52. "I've had no feedback from anybody that indicates anybody gives a hoot," he said.
"We acknowledge having an operating site there, and the work is classified," Air Force spokeswoman Gloria Cales said.
The work involves "operations critical to the U.S. military and the country's security."
The tunneled wasteland?
The images show hundreds of buildings including living quarters, tennis courts, a baseball field, a track and a swimming pool, plus craters in the ground.
Visible roads are not paved and there are no parking lots; buses are the only visible vehicles. Some of the roads appear to run into cliffs, suggesting an underground network.
Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, apparently was skeptical when Hoffman told him of the satellite images. Some of the show's favorite themes are UFOs and secret government activities.
"He clearly didn't believe me," Hoffman said. "From his tone, you could tell he didn't believe me that we had Area 51 and we had the whole area covered."
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