KESTER – To a few of the locals, the top-secret, fenced-off installation on the hill is known as “the radar station.” Some folks claim to have seen mysterious Russians in the area.
Over the years, rumors have swirled that it might be a base for U.S. nuclear warheads.It’s easy to see how the rumors start.
The site is visually striking. Four huge white Kevlar balls sit like giant spherical spacecraft in a compound in the middle of open farm country 25 kilometers (16 miles) west of Belgium's capital, Brussels.But the Kester Satellite Ground Station is both safer and more sophisticated than local lore might suggest.
It’s central to space communications at NATO — the biggest and most modern of four such stations the military alliance runs.Around.