SatCom Array NW-05a

SatCom Array NW-05a is a satellite communications array, part of the SatCom Array in the northwest of the Capital Wasteland. It is located further west of NN-03d, between Fort Constantine and the MDPL-05 Power Station.

Background
NW-05a is populated by members of the Talon Company and a ghoul scientist.

Layout
The SatCom Array's interior opens into a large room with a staircase that leads up to a second floor with nothing notable other than a workbench with a bottlecap mine on it. The stairs also lead to a small alcove with a ladder. Climbing the ladder will bring you onto the satellite dish at the top of the array.

Appearances
The SatCom Array NW-05a appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * While the name itself is not a real world link, the station is; Highwater Trousers is a FOBS, a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System. These systems were originally developed by the Russians in the 1960s, banned by international treaty (which banned weapons in space) and evolved into the silo-launched versions, though only a variant of the R-36 "city buster" was fielded before the SALT II treaty explicitly banned such weapons. The theory (and fear) was that such weapons could be put into orbit indefinitely and launch their payloads from any distance, and any direction, even through holes in the enemy's early warning defense systems. The Highwater Trousers satellite could also reference a related weapons system developed by the US, which involved orbiting weapons clusters operating like the Minuteman silos do on the ground. This idea was echoed decades later in some of the Star Wars defense concepts.
 * It's also possible that the ghouls' implied plan (to void the United States' orbital nuclear arsenal), is a reference to the canceled Van Buren project, the plot of which involved a scientist using the United States' orbital nuclear arsenal to purge the wasteland.
 * The code "Highwater Trousers" is another way to say 'flood pants' though no link to bombs, nuclear codes or the apocalypse were found.

Gallery
Станция сети СатКом NW-05a SatCom Schaltmatrix NW-05a Grupo de satélites de comunicación NW-05a SatCom Array NW-05a