Backscatter Radar Site in Christmas Valley, Oregon

Atlas Obscura reports on a Cold War relic in Christmas Valley, Oregon. The Christmas Valley Air Force Station was built in the late nineteen eighties to detect low-flying cruise missiles using backscatter radar — a system that bounces radio waves off the ionosphere to see beyond the horizon. The facility was finished just as the Cold War wound down and was never used for its intended purpose. After decades of dormancy, Dartmouth University built a small research array there in twenty ten to study the upper atmosphere and aurora. In a striking reversal, the Air Force proposed rebuilding a backscatter radar at the site in twenty twenty-five — a sign that the geopolitical threats once deemed so urgent may be returning.

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