
Ascension Island, where nothing makes sense - darrhiggs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36076411
======
PaulRobinson
I have been at the airport briefly, twice. Once on the way into the Falklands,
once on the way out. Both in the early 2000s, both times on an RAF Tristar. I
was a contractor going down there for a months worth of work, surrounded by
civilians and military on my flights.

I remember being there on the way down middle of the day and all the army guys
were grabbing beers. It was 35C and I was necking water. I thought they were
crazy. I am told there are parts of the island that get hotter.

On the way back, middle of the night, 4am I think we landed. I remember
thinking the plane was too warm, and I couldn't wait to get some fresh air. I
stood by the door as it opened waiting for the cool breeze to come in. Nope:
wall of hot air. It was in the 30s.

There's nothing there, really. It's obvious who runs the comms stuff, and it's
obvious why it's kept the way it is, but nobody will talk about it.

A few people I spoke to have ventured further afield.

The lady I stayed with in the Falklands who ran a B&B told me she had
holidayed there. It was beautiful, apparently.

A friend of mine was stationed there during the Falklands War helping refuel
planes. It was hell, apparently.

~~~
kilroy123
Well... Who ran the comms stuff?

~~~
ethbro
It's an island in the middle of the ocean, placed between two continents, with
limited, military-controlled access by the US and UK.

I don't think I'd need a spoiler tag to say government intelligence agencies.

~~~
WildUtah
Well, ærospace agencies actually, since there are few signals to intercept in
central nowhere. Contacting satellites and guiding æroplanes over open ocean
is a great use for an island in the middle of an ocean.

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iokevins
This BBC article references Ascension Island:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Island)

A bit disappointed--was expecting something more along the lines of physics
abnormalities, I guess. After reading the article, everything seems to make
sense, in terms of human activities: the official UK denial over residents'
right of abode; the secrecy over hilltop-stationed communications equipment;
the lack of Leendert Hasenbosch's remains; Joseph Hooker's re-engineering of
the islands environment, as well as subsequent efforts, over the ensuing
decades.

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madaxe_again
I'm heading there in a month or so, then onwards to St Helena - I have a
penchant for wanting to visit weird and remote places. Taking a drone, I might
post footage here.

Getting permission to visit is a laugh, I had to write to the governor and
explain why I want to come (last sailing of last mail ship).

~~~
goda90
I probably will never visit St Helena, but it makes me kind of sad that such
remote places end up getting an international airport and an influx of
tourists.

~~~
madaxe_again
Yup. That's why I'm going now - last sailing, first flight out, it's going to
change pretty fast over the next few years.

I want to go to Tristan (and Inaccessible!) too, but it's going to have to
wait for another trip, as I only have so much time off, and the sailings don't
work for me. There's one place that'll almost certainly never get an airport.

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Animats
That's terraforming. Before humans got there, it was bare volcanic rock.

As for the radio stations, there's a LORAN station, to provide a navigational
marker in the South Atlantic. NASA had a tracking station there for Apollo,
but it was closed and abandoned in the 1990s. The USAF has a tracking station
there now, for communicating with various space assets.[1] As an intercept
station, it would be marginal; there's nobody to listen to.

[1]
[http://www.patrick.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet_print...](http://www.patrick.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=4494&page=1)

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dnautics
Asencion island must be very important to NASA... It's almost exactly in the
spot where satellite cargo launching to GEOS orbits must make a second burn to
correct their orbital inclination when launching from Kennedy.

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clamprecht
If you want to see more about Ascension island, check out the Departures
episode about it. Here's a short clip from youtube:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYJHxN4lXCc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYJHxN4lXCc)

The full version can be found by searching, kat, etc. BTW the whole Departures
series is great, for those who love traveling (or wish they were traveling).

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arcticbull
From the Wikipedia article, Ascension boasts what's sometimes called the
world's worst golf course. I'm on my way ^_^

~~~
swasheck
i may be the world's worst golfer so that sounds like a match made in ...
ascension

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Houshalter
Of course it's sad they lost the native species, but otherwise Darwin's plan
is really interesting. They increased the biomass of the island and got
forests to grow.

~~~
logfromblammo
Of course, they might just save themselves a bit of time by introducing _all_
the invasive species at once. Let them duke it out in a battle royale, rather
than bringing them in one at a time, to control and/or compete with the
previously introduced invasive species.

I don't shed many tears for the species that had a protected niche and never
managed to do much with it. In the long run, Earth needs species that can
quickly colonize hostile environments and make them more biologically
productive.

~~~
WildUtah
You -- unless you are a Pygmy or Sen or the like -- are a species that lived
in a protected niche for 100,000 or more years without making much of it. Then
you -- we -- figured out writing and agriculture and pottery. The next logical
step was semiconductor laser photolithographic doping and here we are on the
internet sharing photos of cats.

So let's hear a cheer for protection from hostile environments.

~~~
logfromblammo
If your species left Ascension Island and went on to become the dominant
species on the entire planet, please raise your... appendage.

It wasn't until humanity left its protected niche that it really did anything
interesting. And now we are the only ones capable of intentionally spreading
life to other planets. So if your species took a gamble and made an alliance
with humanity early, congratulations, you get to survive the planet-death
extinction event someday. Good job, dogs and apple trees! Poor show, guinea
worm and smallpox.

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alanh
Mods, can we make the title less click-baiting? Perhaps by appending
“(Ascension Island)” to the end?

~~~
dang
This is a trickier case than it might seem. Titles that don't explain
everything are often a good thing on HN; it's good for readers to have to slow
down and work a little. But in this case "The island where nothing makes
sense" fits the linkbait pattern too closely for that argument to win. So yes,
we've changed the title.

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aab0
Very _Dune_.

