Ground Truth: Corona Landmarks investigates an individual’s position on earth in the contemporary context of vast networks of information. We explore this situation by visualizing the expanding pervasiveness of satellite technology in relation to an historically significant set of satellite calibration targets. This system of crosses were created as part of a secret surveillance program in the mid-1960’s called Corona that produced the world’s first images of earth from space.
Today we explore the Cold War architecture, mapping the specific satellites present in the sky at each location at the moment of photographing, aided by a satellite tracking application. The images are thus historic document, aesthetic artifact, and data map simultaneously. We enjoy the way that these myriad points and orbital arcs emphasize the ubiquity of this contemporary technology encircling the globe.