Where is Area 51 and what's going on there?

Whether you are captivated by all the recent talk about UFOsor you are in the middle of a The X-Files If you've spent a good bit of time looking at Area 51, you might be wondering where it is. Who can blame you? Like the Bermuda Triangle and quicksand, Area 51 is mentioned often enough to create a sense of unsettling intrigue, but not often enough to dispel any mystery surrounding the topic. It also doesn't help that those familiar with Area 51 are pretty tight-lipped.

Here we'll go over what Area 51 is and where it's located. Before we get started, however, please note that the following is for informational purposes only – we don't recommend trying to be the first person to enter Area 51 without permission and then back out.

A model of a UFO over the Mojave Desert.
Credit: Joe McBride/Getty Images

What is Area 51, really?

Area 51 is a United States Air Force base in Nevada with a murky history. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) built the facility in 1955 to develop the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Because the U-2 project was secret, it could not be tested at existing Air Force bases, hence the need for a new, remote location.

A Lockheed U-2 landing on the US Navy aircraft carrier USS America in 1969.
Credit: US Navy

That level of secrecy gave Area 51 its mistaken reputation for being involved with UFOs (or UAP (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)(as the government has begun to call them). As the CIA and Air Force began using the facility for other classified aircraft, Nevada residents and tourists near Area 51 sporadically saw mysterious objects floating silently in the sky. Thanks to the military's strict discretion and the long-standing U.S. tradition obsession With aliens, those observers were quick to draw their own conclusions.

Civilians who wanted to learn more about the mysterious goings-on in the region were not allowed to do so. Back then, as today, Area 51 was off-limits. Its fences were patrolled by security cameras and armed guards with access to top-secret information, who were regularly checked. Over time, buried motion sensors were added to the region's topography.

Several warning signs posted around the perimeter in the desert.
Credit: Neil Rubenking

Without a way to research or read about Area 51 operations, some civilians came up with their own ideas. explanationsConspiracies began to flourish: while some people thought the military was busy developing weather control technology, others felt the government was stockpiling and reverse-engineering alien craft (including equipment recovered after the Roswell Incident). Some even thought the government was joining forces with the aliens themselves.

Partial aerial view of Area 51.
Credit: Google Earth

The CIA did not release a summary of its Lockheed U-2 project until 1992. Even then, the version of the report that was shared with the public was heavily redacted. In 2005, Jeffrey Richelson, a fellow at the National Security Archive, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to seek the unredacted version. Richelson eventually received what he had requested in 2013, and within the document was the government's first written reference to Area 51.

Since then, information has been leaking about the true purpose of Area 51, and you can now read about various aerospace experiments that were carried out there. But Area 51 is still off-limits to civilians, and its current operations are kept secret. As a result, some people believe that the government hasn't been entirely honest about what the facility actually serves, allowing conspiracy theories to continue to circulate.

A door to Area 51.
Credit: David James Henry/Wikimedia Commons

So where is it?

We've mentioned that the somewhat demystified US government secret base is in Nevada, but where is it? exactly?

To be clear, Area 51 is not allowed to be visited. Its vast perimeter is riddled with warning signs, including ones that say “Use of lethal force is authorized.” Photography and the use of drones are also prohibited. Area 51 is not a tourist attraction, nor should one try to make it one like a group of tourists. Overly anxious Facebook users did it in 2019.

Now that we've got that out of the way, Area 51 is located in Southern Nevada, towards the northern edge of the Mojave Desert. It's 83 miles northwest of Las Vegas. There are no public roads connecting Area 51 to the rest of civilization. The closest civilians can get is Rachel, a small town of 50 people off SR-375 that's known for its alien-themed rest stops.

The small town of Rachel is located along Nevada State Route 375, officially called the “Extraterrestrial Highway.”
Credit: Gchapel/Getty Images

Area 51 was built around Groom Lake, a salt lake (or dry lake) that served as a test run for aircraft. This gave rise to the facility's government name, the “Groom Box.” Originally, Area 51 was just 150 square kilometers; it has since been expanded to 1,450 square kilometers, all of which is restricted airspace.

Area 51 is closely connected, physically and organizationally, to several other classified government facilities. One, called simply “The Site,” belongs to the Department of Energy. Nevada National Security Sites (NNSS), a collection of nine facilities within the continental United States. (The DOE’s use of “area” terms, such as Area 5 and Area 30, is believed to have inspired the name “Area 51.”)

The site is located at Mercury, a mock village built in the 1950s to house personnel involved in rocket testing. Mercury has ceased most operations, but the site continues to conduct smaller experiments. Officials can use the U.S. Department of Energy's website. Nevada Homeland Security Site (NNSS) road network for travel between Area 15, Mercury, and a former nuclear test site called Yucca Flats.

An undated photograph of Mercury, NV from a distance.
Credit: National Nuclear Security Administration

Towards the southwest corner of Area 51 is the Sugar Bunker, a chemical explosives storage unit and laboratory. The Sugar Bunker is said to have been used for experiments during President Eisenhower's voluntary three-year moratorium on nuclear testing.

For more information, read Are UFO sightings real?