The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a hollowed out mountain in Colorado Springs that keeps track of everything in outer space and all planes in the North American airspace. Yes, this is the home of NORAD. Monolithic backlit screens provide a constant stream of information, including the 24/7 whereabouts of the President and Vice President.
In the event of a nuclear war, 800 personnel could survive in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex for 30 days completely cut off from the outside world. Twenty five-ton blast doors and over 1,319 thousand pound springs remain anchored within 1,700 feet of granite.
Formerly the center for the United States Space Command and NORAD monitored the air space of Canada and the United States through a world-wide system for missiles, space systems, and foreign aircraft through its early-warning system. Since 2008, NORAD and the United States Space Command have been based at Peterson Air Force Base and the complex, re-designated as an air force station, is used for flight crew training and as a back-up command center if required.
The military complex has included many units of NORAD, U.S. Space Command, Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM), Air Force Systems Command, Air Weather Service, and Federal Emergency Management (FEMA). The complex’s communication center is also used by the nearby U.S. Civil Defense Warning Center. The station has an exercise, weights, and cardio gym that is open 24 hours a day.
Everything that orbits the earth, including deep-space debris, is monitored by the United States Space Surveillance Network, based inDahlgren, Virginia, and using Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) technology, located in New Mexico, Hawaii, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Information gathered from around the world is processed by computers and displayed on maps of North America and the world at Peterson Air Force Base. It monitors launched missiles, satellite orbital paths, and aircraft flight paths through its early-warning system. National and military leaders are notified of missile attacks, whether incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles or short-range tactical missiles, into North American air space or in conflict areas, like the countries involved in or impacted by the Gulf War. Defense Support Programs (DSP) early warning and satellite systems report to NORAD and Space Command, located in the Peterson Air Force Base. The DSP satellites use infrared sensors to detect heat emitted from missiles and booster plumes, now fine-tuned to gather information about short-range missiles. Information is then fed to world-wide operations centers and agencies.
The complex is also said to be home to captured alien technology, hidden away deep below the ground levels
