[digitalneal]

Wouldn't surprise me if some meth manufactures found the place to be fairly empty and was operating out of one of the buildings. Only to get caught shipping product somewhere and the FBI backtracked it to the observatory.

[subcosmos]

Or even worse, a math lab - can't ever trust those zany cosmologists ....

[yasp]

Would that entail a Blackhawk helicopter and this veil of secrecy?

[tunap]

Heh, this is the most probable explanation yet, and it is being downed? This is a real problem in the US for anyone that hasn't had a meth lab bust in thier local hood, gated community or national/state/muni park.

[cloakandswagger]

This seems like a stupidly conspicuous location to setup a meth lab unless you assume that not a single person visits the facility for months at a time and no one would notice large plumes of smoke rising from it.

[dsnuh]

True, and I don't think it's a meth lab, but using abandoned military buildings does have precedent on drug manufacturing: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wamego-lsd-missile-silo

[tunap]

No disagreement from me. However, we are talking about tweekers & cookers. They tend to be genuinely resourceful, yet not the most intelligent of peoples.

It took 2 years to get a blatant lab shut down on my upper middle-class street. Ex-neighbor's ex-engine mate happened to transfer from FD to our local PD precinct & made detective. He was the only reason the rat nest was disturbed.

[JoeDaDude]

Heisenberg at work? It is Breaking Bad territory after all...