Yinpiao Zhou was arrested at San Francisco Global Airport on December 9, just before boarding a flight back to China.
Federal agents arrested a Chinese national on Dec. 9 on suspicion of flying a drone over the Vandenberg Dimension Force Bottom in California and taking photos of a SpaceX rocket pad when the contractor brought a sensitive national reconnaissance payload.
The government arrested Yinpiao Zhou, 39, at San Francisco International Airport just before he boarded a flight to China, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
He is scheduled to make his first courtroom appearance in San Francisco on Tuesday, in line with business spokesman Ciaran McEvoy’s position.
The Office of the U.S. Attorney filed a legal complaint in Santa Barbara County federal court on November 30. According to court documents, Zhou has been charged with failure to contain a drone and violating national defense airspace.
The categories of criticism were modified.
Federal agents allege in the court report that Zhou traveled to Ocean Soil, a destination similar to the Vandenberg Dimension Pressure Bottom, on Nov. 30 and flew a drone over the ground.
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SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, has two pads on the ground from where its Falcon 9 rockets are launched at multiple speeds.
SpaceX was selected by the US Dimension Force to launch nine national security missions under its Dimension Setup Phase 3 program, Dimension Force announced on October 18.
According to the court report, federal agents alleged that Zhou flew over the ground and photographed sensitive subjects at the military facility for 59 minutes.
According to the court report, the drone had an SD card, which is one of the virtual data bank tools.
In this image representation, a DJI Mavic 2 Pro made by the Chinese drone manufacturer is hovering over a park in Miami, Florida, on December 15, 2021. Federal agents have linked 39-year-old Yinpiao Zhou of China to a similar drone. To fly in nationwide security airspace above the Vandenberg dimension pressure bottom on November 30, 2024. Joe Raddle/Getty Images
“A review of the contents of the drone SD card revealed numerous photographs of (the base) taken from an aerial perspective,” federal officials wrote in the legal criticism.
According to federal officials, information obtained from the photographs shows that they were taken from a branch above ground on November 30.
Data taken from Zhou’s mobile phone was also analyzed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Federal agents said the telephone displayed Zhou searching Google for the terms “Vandenberg Space Force Base drone rules” on Dec. 8, federal officials wrote in the court report.
Federal authorities claim the phone also contained a WeChat message conversation between a WeChat user and an account believed to belong to Zhou. WeChat is a Chinese-language messaging and social media software.
In conversations on October 21 and October 22, Zhou allegedly claimed to be interested in his drone.
The airspace above is designated as restricted for nationwide security.
According to court reports, Zhou allegedly told federal agents that he had downloaded tools for his drones that allowed him to bypass national security altitude restrictions.
A federal agent also said Zhou knew that taking photographs of the SpaceX facility on the ground was “probably not a good idea,” according to the court report.
Federal flight management regulations require any drone weighing more than .55 kg to be registered. According to a federal FAA special agent, the older model reportedly owned by Zhou — a DJI style Mavic 2 — weighed about 2 pounds.
Stealthy drones have reportedly been seen flying over various US military facilities in the past two months, raising concerns among officials.
“I join the thousands of New Jersey residents in deep disappointment over the growing concerns over the operation of drones in our skies,” Kean wrote in a press release. “The safety and privacy of our residents must be the top priority, and right now, both are being put at risk.”
Keane called on the Birth Place Security Branch, Federal Flight Management and alternative federal companies to deploy higher assets to research and deal with the growing situation.
