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Operation IceBridge: What (and who) it takes to keep a mission flying

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In 2016, Operation IceBridge was joined by Dr. Piers Sellers,

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a NASA earth scientist, astronaut, and manager,

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who came north to connect with the mission and its partners in the high Arctic.

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As we return in 2018, we remain grateful to the late Dr. Sellers,

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the NOAA crew who provided us a safe and successful field season,

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and the men and women of the U.S. Air Force in Thule who maintain

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an invaluable base of operations for our science missions

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NASA's Operation IceBridge operates out of one of the world's harshest climates

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Northwest Greenland (750 miles north of the Arctic Circle)

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So here we are at Thule Air Base, and this was put here originally in the fifties

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as a Cold War, you know, forward outpost - bombers and all that stuff

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And since then, it's come back to being a scientific base, for us anyway, for NASA at least

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and a few other military applications as well.

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The United States works closesly with its Danish counterparts to support missions like Operation IceBridge

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It's a huge collaborative effort. We do very little without the work with each other.

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Because we have an airfield and we have a port and we have a lot of facilities here

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We have a lot of infrastucture and it's fairly unique this far north

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anywhere in the world, and so as a result of that, we allow

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NASA, the National Science Foundation, as well as reserachers from around the world

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get access to the high Arctic.

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The United States Air Force provides critial support to NASA's efforts in the Arctic.

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So on the aircraft operations side, having a hangar is really important

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and the Air Force has been able to provide us with that hangar space

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It's important for both the aircraft, that it stays warm

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and doesn't have to start up from a cold state

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and also for the scientific instraments - we don't want them to get cold

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to possible cause any damage to them.

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We love the different missions that come through here

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be it the NASA missions or a lot of the National Science Foundation missions

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When IceBridge comes up here probably one of the biggest things that I do

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is we make sure you guys get the fuel you need for the aircraft

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and then any kind of passenger or cargo movement that you guys need to

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send up here to conduct your operations.

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For air traffic control, there's significant, some challenges, some new experiences

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we get when we get different type of aircraft outside of our typical C-17, C-130 military aircraft.

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The simiple part of it is pretty much making sure the targets on our scope don't touch

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We seperate you guys, we have quite a few rules that we have to abide by

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Once you get into the habit of it, it gets fairly simple

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My job here is to keep the NASA mission going, keep you guys safe

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by providing air traffic control services

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We're here to be flexible with you all and help you complete your mission.

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Thule Air Base continues to be an instramental partner in NASA's ongoing work studying our changing planet

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