This seemed like an almost perfect result but I couldn't figure out why it wasn't actually on a specific location. So I wrote a script to generate every permutation of the numbers. I then plotted this on google maps using batchgeo.
45.920N, 63.342E is the same order as the words/letters/numbers as in the audio files, except 4 (42 / EC) and 5 (33 / DD) are swapped. google maps name translates to "rocket site"
From rocket_hat and rawe1 on irc:
the text in mp3 1 and 2 are:
Transmission received at T-1090800.0222786265106846
Transmission received at T-1090800.0296872268554892
A difference of 0.007408600300550461s or 2221km (2221042.4944415614m)
Let's assume both recordings are of the same message and that 1.mp3 was received by Greenbank and 2.mp3 by Arecibo. Based on the pictures (The audible words are just noise picked up by one receiver and not the other.)
Overland the distance between Greenbank and Arecibo is 2568 km. This gives a possible launch site 173.5km south south east of Greenbank, but it is the middle of the woods in Virginia.
My thoughts. Other possible launch sites are at a distance of 173.5km/cost(Theta), where theta is the angle from the direct line between Greenbank and Arecibo. The bearing from Greenbank to Arecibo is 146°46′38″. So other possible launch sites could be:
distance: 73.5km/cos(Theta)
bearing: 146.7+Theta
Theta: -90 to +90 (actually not quite 90 to avoid the division by zero)
Ground Control has provided cleaned up mp3 files. The words are now audible and the text in the origianl files is missing. Given these new files it would seem that the difference in receive times is a dead end and the spoken words in the mp3s are the important bit.
On the plus side I now have a python program that can calculate the distance between any two points on the planet.
Looks like the problem was quoting... various suggestions including...
<rocket_hat> openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in 1.bin -out 1.test.mp3 -pass pass:"Im floating in a most peculiar way"
... get us something "meaningful"... now we need to work out what the results actually mean.
So I tried the bash script someone wrote for testing all the ciphers. It didn't work for me, but it gave me loads of errors. I was on windows so assumed this was just normal under cygwin for hours. In the end rocket_hat suggested I try it at the commandline manually. In the end this command worked and I got an mp3 file out of each image!
openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in nrao.aes -out 4-descrypted.mp3 -pass pass:I'm floating in a most peculiar way
Looks like it doesn't work quite the same on linux, someone figured out that windows is dropping the ' so it might work without. Give it a shot, the guys on the IRC channel are running with it, but I need to go to bed.
Here's the locations for all the telescopes other than LOFAR which is an array of antennas at multiple locations around Europe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOFAR)
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http://i.imgur.com/xLpZF5r.jpg
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Launch site confirmed.
Await rescue mission at T-525600. Suit up!
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and put your helmet on
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"Earth Farad"
"Joule Circuit"
"Amp Gain"
"Electron Capacitor"
"Dielectric Diode"
Taking the first letter as a number starting with A=0 we get the following numbers:
45 92 06 42 33
If we take these as longitude / latitude we get 45.920N, 64.233E. This gives us a location a bit east of Baikonur.
http://goo.gl/maps/ATuai
This seemed like an almost perfect result but I couldn't figure out why it wasn't actually on a specific location. So I wrote a script to generate every permutation of the numbers. I then plotted this on google maps using batchgeo.
http://batchgeo.com/map/06e0d8629bdc8f692655a99349f12f16
Checking through them now...
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Is that a launch site?
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45.920N, 63.342E
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the text in mp3 1 and 2 are:
Transmission received at T-1090800.0222786265106846
Transmission received at T-1090800.0296872268554892
A difference of 0.007408600300550461s or 2221km (2221042.4944415614m)
Let's assume both recordings are of the same message and that 1.mp3 was received by Greenbank and 2.mp3 by Arecibo. Based on the pictures (The audible words are just noise picked up by one receiver and not the other.)
Overland the distance between Greenbank and Arecibo is 2568 km. This gives a possible launch site 173.5km south south east of Greenbank, but it is the middle of the woods in Virginia.
My thoughts. Other possible launch sites are at a distance of 173.5km/cost(Theta), where theta is the angle from the direct line between Greenbank and Arecibo. The bearing from Greenbank to Arecibo is 146°46′38″. So other possible launch sites could be:
distance: 73.5km/cos(Theta)
bearing: 146.7+Theta
Theta: -90 to +90 (actually not quite 90 to avoid the division by zero)
Later I would like to look at know launch sites and punch the data into the following site to see if anything matches up (most go do real work now)
http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html
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On the plus side I now have a python program that can calculate the distance between any two points on the planet.
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<rocket_hat> openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in 1.bin -out 1.test.mp3 -pass pass:"Im floating in a most peculiar way"
... get us something "meaningful"... now we need to work out what the results actually mean.
Are you sure? yes | no
openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in nrao.aes -out 4-descrypted.mp3 -pass pass:I'm floating in a most peculiar way
Looks like it doesn't work quite the same on linux, someone figured out that windows is dropping the ' so it might work without. Give it a shot, the guys on the IRC channel are running with it, but I need to go to bed.
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[this comment has been deleted]
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2 - arecibo observatory
3 - lofar telescope
4 - радиотелескоп ратан 600 (RATAN 600)
5 - Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope
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https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zl1GRRACGn8Y.kpF5eZnGOZ30
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