Wherever a person lives, wherever he works, mastering the planet, he is accompanied by faithful assistants – machines and all kinds of technologies – these are the realities of our technocratic age. And if a person, while on duty or conducting scientific research, for example, in Antarctica, must withstand its harsh conditions, then appropriate requirements are imposed on technology.
The Winged Workers
Photo: Andrey Borisov / JSC “Il”
The developments of the Rostec State Corporation have repeatedly proved that they can be relied upon in places where the lowest air temperature on Earth was recorded at one time. For example, the IL-76TD-90VD aircraft, developed at the Ilyushin Design Bureau, successfully fly to Antarctic stations. In our article, we tell you what Rostec equipment is used to work on this remote and inhospitable continent.
The honorary title of discoverers of Antarctica belongs to the Russian navigators Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. An expedition led by them in 1820 on the sloops Vostok and Mirny approached the shores of the continent. Both the naval commanders themselves and their ships were later immortalized in the names of the stations operating here.
Active exploration of Antarctica began already in the 20th century. The first one whose attempt to reach the South Pole was crowned with success was, as you know, the Norwegian researcher Roald Amundsen. Later, serious geographical, meteorological, and other scientific research required a permanent human presence on the continent.
Since 1956, Soviet scientific polar stations Mirny, Vostok, Bellingshausen and others began to appear in Antarctica, and a reliable “air bridge” was required to communicate with them. At first, the Li-2, Il-12, and An-2 aircraft formed the basis of such a bridge, but nevertheless the main burden fell on the Il-14, which coped with its role until the 1990s. In total, this hard worker served on Antarctic lines for more than 30 years.
Over time, the Southern Air Fleet was replenished with new Il–18 family aircraft of various modifications, and since 1986, the IL-76TD, which flew from Moscow to Molodezhnaya and Novolazarevskaya stations and back. The honored pilot of the USSR, Georges Shishkin, described this aircraft more precisely: “The IL-76 and its modifications are not just a good or excellent aircraft. The most accurate assessment of this car, in my opinion, is the definition of “unique”.
Since 2016, Antarctica has been helped by the IL-76TD-90VD transporter. The more economical and environmentally friendly PS-90A-76 engines installed on it increased the flight range of the seventy-sixth. More recently, in November of this year, another airfield became available for this aircraft – at the Progress station. Thus, six Antarctic stations can already receive IL-76 aircraft.
Ground equipment
Photo: Anton Tushin
Our famous LADA NIVA SUV has also done a lot of work on the land of Antarctica. VAZ-2121 arrived in Antarctica, at the Soviet polar station Bellingshausen, in 1990. Of course, the car was previously specially modified for use in harsh “southern” conditions: the intake air heating system was changed, additional noise and thermal insulation was made.
Where not all equipment can withstand, not to mention people, NIVA has honestly worked for more than ten years, transporting various cargoes, towing ships, delivering scientists to facilities, providing communication between stations. The SUV also had a chance to participate in saving human life, when it was necessary to urgently deliver a sick polar explorer to the doctors.
This is how test pilot Nikolai Makeev, who prepared the car for polar tests and spent a watch with it, speaks about the car: “Judge for yourself: there is a need to move half a ton of scientific cargo over a certain distance. Before the advent of the car, it looked like transferring equipment into several trips in the bitter cold, walking through heavy snow and dragging a sleigh, which is practically harnessed to several people at once.”
The LADA NIVA workhorse traveled here until 2005, eventually covering more than 14 thousand kilometers on the Antarctic off-road. After that, the well-deserved car returned home and became a unique exhibit of the AvtoVAZ museum.
Another Rostec development noted in Antarctica was the B10M bulldozer from the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. The tracked vehicles were purchased by the Far Eastern Shipping Company and have already visited the distant continent several times. The car helped in unloading ocean transport. A tractor harnessed to a special pallet sled pulled the cargo from the barge to the shore and towed it to its destination.
However, it is far from news that Chelyabinsk tractors can work in Antarctica. The company produced specially prepared machines for the Antarctic back in the 1950s. But both at that time and now, the domestic car proved to be reliable and unpretentious, deserving high praise.
Finally, in the same year 2019, the Russian Bellingshausen station was equipped with ground-based satellite communications stations of the Roselektronika holding. Thanks to them, the accuracy of geo-location data in the GLONASS system has increased. In order for the equipment to withstand the conditions of Antarctica, the equipment was specially made in a protective dome, which is a radio-transparent shelter from strong storm winds and snow.
