Those with in-depth knowledge of Cold War-era military history likely know about Camp Century, a secret American base that was constructed beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. Erected as part of Project Iceworm, it was intended to serve as an underground complex that was capable of deploying 600 “Iceman” ballistic missiles at the Soviet Union, should the need arise.
Operated from 1959-67, Camp Century was abandoned after officials realized the ice wasn’t as stable as previously thought. Since then, it’d largely been forgotten about – that is, until NASA accidentally captured an image of the subterranean base in April 2024.
The unexpected rediscovery occurred while a NASA-operated Gulfstream III, manned by a team of scientists and engineers, was conducting research over Greenland’s ice sheet. Led by cryospheric scientist Chad Greene, the team was probing the nation’s ice, approximately 150 miles east of Pituffik Space Base, when their radar equipment detected something beneath the surface.
“We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century,” said Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in a statement. “We didn’t know what it was at first.”
Delusions of Adequacy 