A hidden nuclear city in Greenland: how NASA’s discovery sparked Trump’s interest
In 2019, Donald Trump announced for the first time that the United States should “buy Greenland” after NASA's discovery of a nuclear city under the ice.
This unprecedented nuclear city in Greenland quickly became Trump's obsession. However, Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, pointed out that Greenland was not for sale. Additionally, China and Russia have shown interest in this vast icy island, as it has become a strategic point for controlling the increasingly melting Arctic Ocean.
Nevertheless, the recent "rediscovery" of a nuclear city hidden beneath the ice may also be another reason. NASA scientist, Chad Greene, conducted a flight to examine the ice sheet using new radar equipment, the UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar). This is how he detected something he could not immediately identify. It turned out to be Camp Century, a U.S. base abandoned nearly 60 years ago.
Background of the Nuclear City in Greenland
The first discovery was made by a team of NASA researchers using ice-penetrating radar mounted on a Gulfstream III aircraft. Although the United States didn’t have explicit authorization from the Danish government, it began constructing the camp and the subglacial nuclear reactor. However, the project failed due to technical and organizational issues.
In reality, Camp Century never housed any missiles. Instead, it consisted of a network of tunnels more than 4,000 kilometers long, designed to accommodate up to 600 nuclear missiles. The base was equipped with laboratories, rooms, and a power plant powered by a portable nuclear reactor.
Why does Trump really want to buy Greenland?
According to DW, Ulrik Pram Gad of the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen said that the president-elect's moves are in line with the so-called Monroe Doctrine, dating back to the 19th century: “The United States will not allow any hostile power to settle on the American continent. That's why they want to make sure that no Chinese or Russians have facilities in Greenland.”
Frederiksen has repeatedly said that it is Greenlanders who should decide Greenland's future, not Copenhagen, because the ties between Denmark and Greenland have existed for hundreds of years. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 and is now a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Since 2009, the island has had the right to declare independence in a referendum. However, the island and its 57,000 inhabitants are largely dependent on Danish state funds.
Greenland's premier, Mute Egede, is in favor of independence, but does not want Greenland to subsequently become dependent on another state. “We don't want to be Danish. We don't want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders, of course,” he once said in Frederiksen's presence.
Greenland's resources are one of the main reasons why other countries are interested in Greenland. For example, oil, gas and rare earths, needed to manufacture electric cars and wind turbines, among other things. Currently, China has a near-monopoly of these critical minerals worldwide. About 80% of the island is covered by thick ice cover, but the ice is receding as a result of climate change, making the deposits more accessible. However, the Greenland government has so far blocked mining on environmental grounds.