Camp Century was constructed in 1959 as part of Project Iceworm, a secret mission to build a nuclear missile launch system beneath Greenland.
tearbringer/FlickrA view of Greenland’s vast icy terrain.
In April 2024, a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was flying over Greenland to test a radar instrument when they made an unintentional discovery. Their equipment captured imagery of Camp Century, a Cold War-era U.S. military base buried under Greenland’s ice sheet.
Originally constructed in 1959, Camp Century was made up of tunnels and underground structures. While it was advertised as a polar research center, its true purpose was tied to Project Iceworm, a secret mission to house a nuclear missile launch system beneath the ice. The plan was ultimately abandoned in 1967 — and now NASA is providing the clearest look at the site in decades.
NASA Rediscovers Camp Century Beneath The Ice Of Greenland
NASAA radar image of Camp Century in Greenland as captured by NASA in April 2024.
In April 2024, NASA conducted a scientific flight over Greenland to test a new instrument, the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR). As the research team soared through the skies above the icy island, something strange appeared on their screen.
“We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century. We didn’t know what it was at first,” NASA’s Chad Greene, a cryospheric scientist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stated in a press release.
While other flights have captured imagery of Camp Century in the past, this latest technology utilized by NASA is giving scientists a much clearer view of the site. “In the new data, individual structures in the secret city are visible in a way that they’ve never been seen before,” Greene explained.
The camp is now buried beneath 100 feet of ice and snow, but it has a fascinating — and classified — history.
The History Of Camp Century And Its Use During The Cold War
Public DomainThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs trenches at Camp Century.
In 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began building a covert military base beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. U.S. officials told Danish authorities that the purpose of the camp was to test building techniques in Arctic conditions and conduct scientific experiments.
The camp layout consisted of a series of trenches, the longest of which measured 1,100 feet, as well as several small underground structures.
“In building the fantastic community, 800 miles from the North Pole, Army Engineers, in cooperation with the Danish Government (Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark), have proved that the traditionally antagonistic Arctic can be tamed… It will be home — snug, comfortable and warm — for 100 scientists, engineers, and soldiers who are expected to move in late this year,” a February 1960 issue of Popular Science explained.
Keystone Press/Alamy Stock PhotoA logistical cargo carrier overland train hauls supplies to Camp Century on June 6, 1959.
However, the true purpose of Camp Century was part of Project Iceworm. This top-secret mission involved the construction of tunnels to house a type of nuclear missile known as the “Iceman” that could burst through the ice and reach the Soviet Union.
The plan was scrapped in 1967 after officials realized the constantly shifting ice sheets posed cost and safety issues for the structural integrity of the site. Upon abandoning Camp Century, the U.S. left behind 53,000 gallons of diesel fuel, 63,000 gallons of wastewater and sewage, and unknown amounts of radioactive coolant from the reactor that powered the site. At the time, officials involved in the project believed that these waste products would be safely buried under the ice — but now researchers aren’t so sure.
“Two generations ago, people were interring waste in different areas of the world, and now climate change is modifying those sites,” William Colgan, a climate and glacier scientist at York University and a researcher at University of Colorado Boulder, stated in a press release about a study into the impact of the waste left at Camp Century.
Researchers believe that this waste will eventually pose a problem for the area by exposing it to harmful chemicals and radiation.
“The question is whether it’s going to come out in hundreds of years, in thousands of years, or in tens of thousands of years,” said James White, a climate scientist at UC Boulder. “This stuff was going to come out anyway, but what climate change did was press the gas pedal to the floor and say, ‘It’s going to come out a lot faster than you thought.'”
Although Camp Century has been abandoned for more than 50 years, it clearly remains relevant to this day. Now, NASA’s recent rediscovery has reignited interest in both its history and its future.
After reading about NASA’s recent rediscovery of Camp Century, go inside the story of nine wild covert operations that the U.S. government actually carried out. Then, read about 11 bizarre secret U.S. government operations that were once proposed.
