The U.S. military’s northernmost outpost is seeing brighter days. Literally. The Space Force Guardians at Pituffik Space Base are seeing sunlight for the first time in three months.
In recent days sunlight crested over the hills around the American base in Greenland, the first glimpse of natural light since November. Located at a latitude of 76°32? North on the western coast of Greenland, the base is more than 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle and so close to the North Pole that come winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun slips out of view from November to February. Guardians at the base celebrated the return of an actual daybreak on Feb. 15 with activities out in the snow — it is still winter north of the Arctic Circle after all. Photos shared by Space Force showed troops driving out to watch the Sun rise, some basking in the rays.
The proximity to the North Pole means that alongside frigid winters and long nights, troops stationed at Pituffik also get to see sights such as the aurora borealis.
Pituffik Space Base operates a unique mission. Home to the 821st Space Base Group, Guardians operate missile detection devices and early warning systems, while also carrying out several scientific research projects.
The base, originally named Thule Air Base until 2023 when it transferred to Space Force, was founded in 1951 as a U.S. Air Force outpost on Greenland, as part of NATO agreements. Alongside its Cold War-focused missile detection systems, the base’s airfield and deep water port make a strategic location. Troops that are stationed there though have to deal with the harsh conditions of being that far north in a rough and cold terrain.
There was a second base on Greenland, Camp Century, built at the end of the 1950s underground. It was meant as a secret test location for nuclear missile launchers. That base, long abandoned, was rediscovered under the snow last year by NASA radar.
Now Guardians get to enjoy two months of some kind of a normal day. But there is a flip side to the winter coin. The very location that means months of endless night mean that between May and November the Sun never fully sets, enveloping Pituffik Space Base in constant brightness. According to a NASA report on the outpost, Pituffik gets about a month of “normal sunlight time” twice a year, during the spring and fall.
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