Recent from talks
Pituffik Space Base
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Pituffik Space Base
Pituffik Space Base (/biːduːˈfiːk/ bee-doo-FEEK; Greenlandic: [pitufːik]; IATA: THU, ICAO: BGTL), formerly Thule Air Base (/ˈtuːliː/), is a United States Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark under a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. Currently, 150 United States service members are stationed there, after the United States significantly reduced its presence from 6000 personnel during the Cold War. Denmark was a founding member of NATO in 1949, and the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement allowed the United States to operate the base under a NATO framework, as long as both Denmark and the United States remain NATO members. Under the agreement, the Danish national flag must be flown at the base to recognize that the base is on Danish territory, but the United States is allowed to fly its own flag alongside the Danish flag on the facilities it operates.
It is the northernmost Department of Defense installation, 1,210 km (750 mi) north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km (947 mi) from the North Pole. Pituffik's Arctic environment includes icebergs in North Star Bay, two islands (Saunders Island and Wolstenholme Island), a polar ice sheet, and Wolstenholme Fjord. The base is home to a substantial portion of the global network of missile warning sensors of Space Delta 4, and space surveillance and space control sensors of Space Delta 2, providing space awareness and advanced missile detection capabilities to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the United States Space Force, and joint partners.
Pituffik Space Base is also home to the 821st Space Base Group and is responsible for space base support within the Pituffik Defense Area for the multinational "Team Pituffik" population. The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron (12 SWS), which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America. The base is also host to Detachment 1 of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of the Space Delta 6's global satellite control network. The airfield's 3,000 m (10,000 ft) runway handles more than 3,000 US and international flights per year. The base is also home to the northernmost deep water port in the world.
Pituffik Space Base has previously served as the regional hub for nearby installations, including Cape Atholl (LORAN station), Camp Century (Ice Cap Camp), Camp TUTO (Ice Cap Approach Ramp and Airstrip), Sites 1 and 2 (Ice Cap Radar Stations), P-Mountain (radar and communications site), J-Site (BMEWS), North and South Mountains (research sites), and a research rocket firing site.[not verified in body] It also was essential in the construction and resupply of High Arctic weather stations, including CFS Alert (Alert Airport) and Station Nord.[citation needed]
In 1818, Sir John Ross's expedition made first contact with nomadic Inughuit in the area. James Saunders's expedition aboard HMS North Star was marooned in North Star Bay in 1849–50 and named landmarks. In 1910 explorer Knud Rasmussen established a missionary and trading post there. He called the site "Thule" after classical ultima Thule; the Inuit called it Umanaq or Uummannaq ("heart-shaped"), and the site is commonly called "Dundas" today. Whaling captain, explorer, and ethnologist George Comer discovered a midden, dubbed Comer's Midden, at Umanaq in 1916, and an archaeological excavation subsequently revealed a village of the proto-Inuit who came to be called the Thule people. The United States abandoned its territorial claims in the area in 1917 in connection with the purchase of the Virgin Islands. Denmark assumed control of the village in 1937.
A cluster of huts known as Pituffik ("the place the dogs are tied") stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951; a main base street was named Pituffik Boulevard. The population was forcibly relocated to Thule. Later in 1953, the USAF planned to construct an air defense site near that village, and in order to limit contact with soldiers, the Danish government again relocated 130 inhabitants of "Old Thule", settling them 97 km (60 mi) north in a newly constructed village also named Thule (colloquially "New Thule", now Qaanaaq).
In a Danish Supreme Court judgment of 28 November 2003, the move was considered an expropriative intervention. During the proceedings, the Danish government recognized that the movement was a serious interference and an unlawful act against the local population. The Thule tribe was awarded damages of 500,000 kroner, and the individual members of the tribe who had been exposed to the transfer were granted compensation of 15,000 or 25,000 each. A Danish radio station continued to operate at Dundas, and the abandoned houses remained. The USAF only used that site for about a decade and has since returned to civilian use.
Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik Plain as ideal for an airport. USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen, who built Sondrestrom Air Base, knew Rasmussen and his idea. Balchen led a flight of two Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats to Thule on 24 August 1942 and then sent a report advocating an air base to USAAF chief Henry "Hap" Arnold. However, the 1951 air base site is a few kilometers inland from the original 1946 airstrip and across the bay from the historical Thule settlement, to which an ice road connects it. The joint Danish-American defense area, designated by treaty, also occupies considerable inland territory in addition to the air base itself.
Hub AI
Pituffik Space Base AI simulator
(@Pituffik Space Base_simulator)
Pituffik Space Base
Pituffik Space Base (/biːduːˈfiːk/ bee-doo-FEEK; Greenlandic: [pitufːik]; IATA: THU, ICAO: BGTL), formerly Thule Air Base (/ˈtuːliː/), is a United States Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark under a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. Currently, 150 United States service members are stationed there, after the United States significantly reduced its presence from 6000 personnel during the Cold War. Denmark was a founding member of NATO in 1949, and the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement allowed the United States to operate the base under a NATO framework, as long as both Denmark and the United States remain NATO members. Under the agreement, the Danish national flag must be flown at the base to recognize that the base is on Danish territory, but the United States is allowed to fly its own flag alongside the Danish flag on the facilities it operates.
It is the northernmost Department of Defense installation, 1,210 km (750 mi) north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km (947 mi) from the North Pole. Pituffik's Arctic environment includes icebergs in North Star Bay, two islands (Saunders Island and Wolstenholme Island), a polar ice sheet, and Wolstenholme Fjord. The base is home to a substantial portion of the global network of missile warning sensors of Space Delta 4, and space surveillance and space control sensors of Space Delta 2, providing space awareness and advanced missile detection capabilities to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the United States Space Force, and joint partners.
Pituffik Space Base is also home to the 821st Space Base Group and is responsible for space base support within the Pituffik Defense Area for the multinational "Team Pituffik" population. The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron (12 SWS), which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America. The base is also host to Detachment 1 of the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of the Space Delta 6's global satellite control network. The airfield's 3,000 m (10,000 ft) runway handles more than 3,000 US and international flights per year. The base is also home to the northernmost deep water port in the world.
Pituffik Space Base has previously served as the regional hub for nearby installations, including Cape Atholl (LORAN station), Camp Century (Ice Cap Camp), Camp TUTO (Ice Cap Approach Ramp and Airstrip), Sites 1 and 2 (Ice Cap Radar Stations), P-Mountain (radar and communications site), J-Site (BMEWS), North and South Mountains (research sites), and a research rocket firing site.[not verified in body] It also was essential in the construction and resupply of High Arctic weather stations, including CFS Alert (Alert Airport) and Station Nord.[citation needed]
In 1818, Sir John Ross's expedition made first contact with nomadic Inughuit in the area. James Saunders's expedition aboard HMS North Star was marooned in North Star Bay in 1849–50 and named landmarks. In 1910 explorer Knud Rasmussen established a missionary and trading post there. He called the site "Thule" after classical ultima Thule; the Inuit called it Umanaq or Uummannaq ("heart-shaped"), and the site is commonly called "Dundas" today. Whaling captain, explorer, and ethnologist George Comer discovered a midden, dubbed Comer's Midden, at Umanaq in 1916, and an archaeological excavation subsequently revealed a village of the proto-Inuit who came to be called the Thule people. The United States abandoned its territorial claims in the area in 1917 in connection with the purchase of the Virgin Islands. Denmark assumed control of the village in 1937.
A cluster of huts known as Pituffik ("the place the dogs are tied") stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951; a main base street was named Pituffik Boulevard. The population was forcibly relocated to Thule. Later in 1953, the USAF planned to construct an air defense site near that village, and in order to limit contact with soldiers, the Danish government again relocated 130 inhabitants of "Old Thule", settling them 97 km (60 mi) north in a newly constructed village also named Thule (colloquially "New Thule", now Qaanaaq).
In a Danish Supreme Court judgment of 28 November 2003, the move was considered an expropriative intervention. During the proceedings, the Danish government recognized that the movement was a serious interference and an unlawful act against the local population. The Thule tribe was awarded damages of 500,000 kroner, and the individual members of the tribe who had been exposed to the transfer were granted compensation of 15,000 or 25,000 each. A Danish radio station continued to operate at Dundas, and the abandoned houses remained. The USAF only used that site for about a decade and has since returned to civilian use.
Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik Plain as ideal for an airport. USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen, who built Sondrestrom Air Base, knew Rasmussen and his idea. Balchen led a flight of two Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats to Thule on 24 August 1942 and then sent a report advocating an air base to USAAF chief Henry "Hap" Arnold. However, the 1951 air base site is a few kilometers inland from the original 1946 airstrip and across the bay from the historical Thule settlement, to which an ice road connects it. The joint Danish-American defense area, designated by treaty, also occupies considerable inland territory in addition to the air base itself.
Recent media