AUTHOR'S NOTES
Some interesting items related to locations and technologies used in The Forge of Mars.
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex outside Colorado Springs, Colorado is the command, control, communication and intelligence center for coordinating and controlling North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) missions.
Excavation and construction for the complex began on May 25, 1961 and took a total of four years and seven months to complete. Initial Operational Capability was achieved on December 15, 1965. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex became completely operational on January 1, 1966.
The actual operations complex is a series of 15 buildings, 11 of which are three stories tall. The main entry tunnel, about one-third of a mile long, leads to a pair of steel blast doors which serve as the entrance to the operational centers. The blast doors are set 50 feet apart and encased in concrete collars. They can be opened or closed in 45 seconds. The first door is set flush with the tunnel's rock wall so that the blast and heat from an outside nuclear explosion would blow through the tunnel, exiting on the south side of the mountain, nearly 5,000 feet from the main entry.
1.5 million pounds of dynamite were used to excavate approximately 693,000 tons of solid granite. 115,000 rock bolts are used to reinforce the tunnel structure. Rock bolts run from 6 to 32 feet in length and function like molly bolts. Altogether, the rock bolts give the mountain the illusion that there is someone inside pushing outward on the walls. This prevents implosion or cave-in.
Behind the second blast door is a windowless "city" set in a four-and-a-half-acre grid of excavated chambers. The entire operations complex is mounted on a total of 1,319 springs, each weighing 1,000 pounds. They allow the complex to sway up to 12 inches horizontally in any direction. This insulates the complex in case there's an earthquake or a low-yield nuclear explosion...up to a point, at least.
Dig Deeper Next Time
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Federation of American Scientists: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/index.html
Cheyenne Mountain Home Page: http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace/cmocfb.htm
Wired article: Going Ballistic! http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/cheyenne_pr.html
