13. Project Iceworm

This experiment sounds like it could have been done out of Mr. Freeze’s lair. But it actually happened. During the Cold War, the U.S. launched “Project Iceworm” to build a nuclear-missile launch site deep within Greenland’s ice caps.

 

The Camp Century prototype went operational in 1958.

The base consisted of more than 2 dozen underground tunnels carved from ice and reinforced with steel. It housed sleeping quarters for 200 people along with a lab, hospital, and even a theater. All was powered by a cutting-edge, portable nuclear reactor.

Unfortunately, nature would not support the government’s imagination for long. Within a few years, ice cap shifts rendered some tunnels unusable. The base eventually became unfeasible to work in, and the project was decommissioned in 1966.