Inside The New Boston Space Force Station

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NH Chronicle: Inside The New Boston Space Force Station

Where they’re preserving our past and protecting our future



SPACE FORCE IS ABOUT AND THE LONG HISTORY ON THIS LAND. REPORTER: IT IS LEGENDARY LANDSCAPE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE DOTTED WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE GIANT GOLF BALLS. WE ARE ON A MISSION TO TAKE YOU INSIDE THESE SPHERES AND INTO THE RESTRICTED AREA OF THE NEW BOSTON SPACE FORCE STATION. >> HAVE A SEAT. >> THE 23RD SPACE OPETIRAONS SQUADRON WELCOMES US BEHIND WHAT IS USUALLY CLOSED DOORS. WE ARE STARTING AT THE TOP WITH A BRIEFING FROM THE COMMANDER, LIEUTENANT COLONEL DAVID THAT SINGER. >> WE RENAMED THE INSTALLATION FROM AN AIR FORCE PATIENT TO A SPACE FORCE STATION. REPORTER: THE LT. COL. HAS A PROUD MILITARY HERITAGE. HIS FATHER SERVED IN VIETNAM. HIS GRANDFATHERS IN WORLD WAR II. LONG BEFORE THAT. >> AN HOUR WEST OF HERE MY GRANDFATHER’S GRANDFATHER’S GRANDFATHER IS LYING IN A CO LONIAL CEMETERY NEXT TO HIS FATHER. HE SERVED WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON IN THE REVUTOLION. JUST TRYING TO THINK WHAT HE WOULD THINK OF SOMETHING CALLED THE SPACE FORCE IN HIS BACKYARD IS NEAT. A FULL CIRCLE OF SERVICE TO THE COUNTRY. IT IS A REAL BIG PRIVILEGE TO BE HERE. >> THE LT. COL. MOVE FROM THE AIR FORCE TO THE SPACE FORCE, ARRIVING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE FROM THE PENTAGON. >> THE SPACE FORCES UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE. SIMILAR TO HOW THE NAVY AND THE MARINES ARE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL SERVICES UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY. REPORTER: DO NOT BE ALARMED BY WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR. [SIREN] REPORTER: WE STEP THROUGH PRESSURE LOCKED DOORS LEADING INSIDE ONE OF THOSE GOLF BALL STRUCTURES. THIS IS OFFICIALLY CALLED A RADOME, A COMBINATION OF RADAR AND DOME. LOOK UP AND YOU WILL SEE THE INDOOR MISS — THE ENORMSOU ANTENNA, COMMUNICATING WITH SATELLITES CRITICAL TO MODERN LIFE. GPS, CLEL PHONES, BANKING, EVEN SMART WEAPON. >> WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION AND WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO PRESERVE OUR ASSETS. >> THERE IS A TEAM OF 120. SPACE FORCE GUARDIANS. THE REST,OV GERNMENT CONTRACTED PERSONNEL. THREI MISSION, ALLOW ACCESS TO MORE THAN 200 SATELLITES AS THEY PASS OVER THE ATLANTIC AREA OF THE GLOBE. >> WHAT THESE ANTENNAS DO FOR THE SATELLITES WE SUPPORT AND THE MISSIONS THEY SUPPORT, EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. REPORTER: THEY WORK WITH A NETWORK OF OTHEROC LATIONS AT CAPE CANAVERAL, ENGLA,ND ASCENSION ISLAND IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, DAN GREENLAND, WHICH THEY VISITED. >> GREENLAND IS A COPY AND PASTE OF THIS INSTALLATION, JUST A LOT COLDER AND LESS TREES. REPORT:ER COMMUNICATING WITH INSTALLATIONONS THE OTHERS OF THE PLANET, BOUNCING SIGNALS UP AND DOWN AND AROUND THE GLOBE, CALLED M HOPPING. >> YOU CAN BEAM UP TO A SATELLITE ANDHE T SATELLITE WILL COME DOWN TO AND UNDERGROUND STATION, BACK TO A SATELLITE, BACK TO THE INTENDED TARGET. IT IS CALLED M HOPPING BECAUSE IT MAKES AN M AROUND THE EARTH. REPORTER: IF SPACE OPERATIONS IN COLORADO NEEDS TO TALK TO A SATELLITE, NEW BOSTON, KNOWN BY ITS CALLSIGN BOS, WILL MAKE A CONNECTI.ON >> ALWAYS SCANNING, KEEPING A SAFE. >> AN EXAMPLE OF ONE OF THE SATELLITES WE SUPPORT DAY-TO-DAY IS THE GPS CONSTELTILAON. REPORTER: MASTER SERGEANT KYLE DOOLEY SAYS ETH SQUADRON KEEPS YO U CONNECTED WITH YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE. >> THIS IS A UNIT PATCH, THE 23 STOPS,HE T GATEKEEPER WCALLE IT, AND SPACE ACCESS IS WHAT WE DO. IT IS GREATO TBE PART OF THE TEAM. REPORTER: MAJOR JLIL CHALMERS HEEDLP DESIGN THE EMBLEM. >> IT REPRESENTS WH AATRE SQUADRON DOES. THE MIDDLE IS AN ANTENNA. WE HAVE A COUPLE DELTAS TO REPRESENTHT E SPACE FORCE. AND THEN THE THREE ORBITS. REPORT:ER AS SPACE AGE AS SPACE FORCE SOUNDS COME OF THE MILITARY HISTORY HERE DATES BACK TO WORLD WAR II. IN 1942, THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASED THE LAND TO TRAIN AIRMEN. AT THE MANCHESTER-BOSTON REGIONAL AIRPORT, THEY WOULD LOAD BOMBS, SOME LIVE, SOME PACKED WHIT SAND, AND MAKE THE 10 MINUTE FLIGHT TO PRACTICE DROPPING BOMBS IN JOE ENGLISH POND ON BA PROSEPERTY. OR HIT TARGETS WITH BULLETS FROM THE AIR. >> THEY HAD THESE BIG FLOATING WHARFS ON THE POND. USUALLY 100 POUND BOMBS TRYING TO HIT THOSE WHAS.RF THEY PRIMARILY FLEW 51 MUSTANGS OUT OF THEIR — OUT OF THERE. REPORTER: TWO PLANES CRASHED HERE. THREE AIRMEN LOST. RECINENT YEARS, A MAJOR SWEEP CLEANED UP UNEXPLODED ORDINAE.NC DETONATED ON-SITE, SOME SAVED HERE IN HERITAGE HALL ON THE BOMB — ON THE BASE. INUDCLING THIS TO HER THOUSAND POUND — THIS 2000 POUND BOMB. >> IIST INERT THANK GOODNESS. WHEN WE FOUND IT, WE DID NOT KNOW THAT. WE FOUND HUNDREDS OF THESE. THIS IS A SUB CALIBER AIRAFCRT ROCKET. THIS IS A 100 POUND PRACTICE BOMB. WE DID NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH IS DROPP.ED THIS IS NOT DOCUMENTED. WHEN WE PUT BOOTS ON THE GROUND WERE ASTONISHED AT WHAT WE DID FIND. REPORT:ER THE HISTORY RUNS DEEP ON THESE 3000 ACRES. NATIVE STONE TOOLS WERE FOUND ON THE NDLA DATING BACK MORE THAN 12,000 YEARS. THERE ARE DOZENS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, MORE THAN 70 COLONIAL FOUNDATIONS, A STOP ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. IT IS AMAZING THAT SLAVES WOULD COME HERE ON THEIR JOURNEY TO FREEDOM. >> WE HAVE SEVERAL DOCUMTEEND CASES OF SLAVES BEING BROUGHT HERE. REPORTER:LL A PRESERVED ON THIS FEDERAL PROPERTY BECAUSE PUBLIC ACCESS IS NOT PERMITTED. >> IT IS A CLOSED INSTALLATION. WE HEAV TO MAINTAIN A HIGH LEVEL OF SECURITY BASED ON THE IMPORTANT MISSION WE DO FOR THE SPACFOE RCE. REPORTER: THE AIR FORCE HASEE BN CONDUCTING SPACE MISSIONS FOR DECADES. >> THE CORONA PROGRAM WAS OUR FIRST INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM. WE WOULD HAVE SATELLITES IN SPACE THAT WOULD TAKE PICTURES OFHE T SOVIET UNION. REPORT:ER LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES, THE U.S. HAS A DEDICATED SPACE FORCE WITH 6600 ACTIVE-DUTY GUARDIANS AROUND THE GLOBE. NEW HAMPSHIRE IS HOME TO MORE THAN $1 BILLION WORTH OF ASSETS AND ON THE DUTY AROUND THE CLOCK HERE IS A NEW BOSTON, PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE PAST AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE.

NH Chronicle: Inside The New Boston Space Force Station

Where they’re preserving our past and protecting our future

Tonight we are headed inside some of the restricted areas at the New Boston Space Force Station, to meet the Granite Staters on a mission to keep America connected and safe. Plus, the folks with The Seacoast Science Center’s Marine Mammal Rescue Program, call themselves sentinels of the sea, bio-indicators of what’s going on in the big blue. Jennifer Crompton takes a look at seal satellite tracking that the program is using to help unlock some mysteries. On Fritz Wetherbee’s New Hampshire: Tales of Salem, LafayetteFor more information on tonight’s stories:Seacoast Science CenterRye, NHMarine Mammals of MaineHosting this week from: United States Space Force

Tuesday, February 15th —

Tonight we are headed inside some of the restricted areas at the New Boston Space Force Station, to meet the Granite Staters on a mission to keep America connected and safe.

Plus, the folks with The Seacoast Science Center’s Marine Mammal Rescue Program, call themselves sentinels of the sea, bio-indicators of what’s going on in the big blue. Jennifer Crompton takes a look at seal satellite tracking that the program is using to help unlock some mysteries.

On Fritz Wetherbee’s New Hampshire: Tales of Salem, Lafayette

For more information on tonight’s stories:

Seacoast Science Center

Rye, NH

Marine Mammals of Maine

Hosting this week from:

United States Space Force