It sounds like a science fiction scenario, but it’s not: NASA has just rediscovered a military base buried under the ice. We tell you everything.
Baptized « Camp Century » this military base was built in Greenland by the United States in 1959. At the time, the Cold War was in full swing and the location, located halfway between the United States and the USSR, was highly strategic .
But, from 1967, this camp was left abandoned and, quickly, the ice took over, erasing all traces of the place.
Camp Century was notably a vast network of 3km of galleries dug into the ice. A technical feat highlighted by West France :
“This military base, built in extreme climatic conditions, embodies the pinnacle of American military civil engineering of the time. In this area of the globe, temperatures can drop as low as -57°C and winds exceed 193 km/h. »
Designed to accommodate 200 soldiers, Camp Century housed dormitories, laboratories, a hospital, a chapel and even a movie theater. The place was powered by a portable nuclear reactor.
If this military camp is resurfacing today, it is because of the melting of the ice. While flying over the area, NASA spotted the buildings. And if the surprise is great to rediscover such a site, the news is also accompanied by certain concerns, as underlined Lemon Press :
“The rediscovery of Camp Century goes hand in hand with quite worrying environmental issues. The gradual melting of the Greenland ice cap could one day expose these installations and their toxic waste, constituting a potential threat to the Arctic ecosystem, already greatly weakened. »
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