Ghost Town In Playas Provides High-Tech Testing For AFRL - 9:59 am
AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate researchers setting up test equipment overlooking the Playas Research and Training Center in southern New Mexico. Courtesy/AFRL
AFRL NEWS:
KIRTLAND AFB In a dusty ghost town in southern New Mexico, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is conducting some of its most important testing.
Located in Hidalgo County, Playas was once a bustling “corporate town” built by the Phelps Dodge Corporation to house the workforce of a copper smelter built in 1971. The boom town was all but abandoned when copper prices fell in 1999, the smelter was closed, and most of its residents fled for better opportunities elsewhere.