Alexander Makarov, Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), spoke about new technologies. He also informed about the creation of a scientific vessel and a lot of new interesting things.
Breakthrough research in Antarctica
— The interests of the institute’s scientists are very broad. They consist in studying the natural environment in the polar regions. However, the fundamental data that specialists receive is in demand in various fields. For example, in shipping, construction, and mining.
In particular, scientists are investigating how cold, ice, permafrost and other factors affect various structures. In the future, scientific knowledge is used to solve practical problems. For example, for the construction of populated settlements, roads, bridges, power lines, gas pipelines and other infrastructure in high latitudes.
— The complexity of the new wintering complex at the Vostok station in Antarctica is comparable to a spacecraft. This is an example of breakthrough engineering solutions based on fundamental scientific data. In particular, the 65-centimeter exterior walls are a layered cake made of innovative materials. The windows are equipped with valves that automatically equalize the pressure inside and outside the building.
The modules of the complex are supported by three-meter supports equipped with electric jacks. In case of heavy drifts, they will help the structures to get out from under the snowdrifts and stamp the snow under them. In total, there are 10 Russian stations in Antarctica — five year-round and the same number of seasonal ones.
— In Antarctica, scientists are preparing to drill a well about 3.7 km deep to the subglacial lake Vostok. It will replace the existing one and will make it possible to deliver descent vehicles to the reservoir and explore the lake on a continuous basis. These studies will require new engineering solutions. They relate to drilling tools, filling fluids, and instrumentation.
Lake Vostok is of fundamental importance for science. With its help, scientists expect to uncover the secrets of the origin of life on the planet. At the same time, its study is fraught with enormous difficulties. However, in the future, the tested polar technologies will be useful on new planets. For example, when drilling ice caps on Mars or 30-kilometer ice crusts on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Polar technologies will be useful on new planets.
Basic research in the Arctic
— All the work that scientists do contributes to world science. One of the most significant is research in the Arctic, where experts study viruses and bacteria that are extracted from permafrost and ice. These pathogens are contemporaries of mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses. Some of the microorganisms are resistant to modern antibiotics and pose a danger to humans.
— One of the most important applied studies is the permafrost monitoring system in Russia. These are 140 automatic stations distributed across the country. They will continuously measure the temperature and humidity of the soil at different depths. The network will cover the territory of permafrost, which occupies 2/3 of our country.
— In 2029, the new scientific vessel Ivan Florov will be launched. It is designed to carry up to 2.5 thousand tons of cargo per flight. It is important that the vessel is ready to operate in all latitudes — from the North Pole to Antarctica. In addition, the vessel will be able to overcome ice up to a meter thick, as well as unload on an unequipped shore. This will allow expeditions to work in hard-to-reach places where it is impossible to use conventional berths.
Up to 20 laboratories will be located on board the vessel. A promising solution was to arrange them according to the modular principle, which makes it possible to quickly change the subject of research as urgent tasks arise. Thus, the scientific complex of the vessel will not become obsolete throughout its entire service life.
Expeditions of the North Pole self-propelled platform are continuing. Polar explorers have already conducted more than fifty studies and collected unique data on the nature and climate of the Arctic. This data is necessary to refine the predictive models. This, in turn, will help to make detailed forecasts for navigation along the Northern Sea Route.
— Scientists are using modern unmanned and robotic technologies. Such means of production are extremely necessary, since the explored spaces are huge, and the possibility of human presence on them is limited. UAVs can quickly carry out local ice exploration and perform observations, tracking the parameters of air mass movement, humidity, temperature, the content of impurities in the air, etc.
It is worth noting that polar drones are not a trivial task, they are subject to increased requirements. For example, they must be resistant to low temperatures, icing, wind, and the chemical composition of seawater. In addition, communication with the device should not be interrupted due to magnetic storms, which are more intense in the circumpolar latitudes.
— Our institute is working on the task of saturating Arctic waters with automatic stations on drifting platforms and on stationary buoys. Information from them will be continuously transmitted to the data processing center, which will allow for more accurate tracking of water movements and climatic processes. Work in these areas is carried out jointly with specialized enterprises.
Scientists are also developing robotic underwater gliders and profilers. The first of them have a variable buoyancy propulsion, which makes it possible to dive and rise in the water without significant energy consumption. The second ones move independently along the cable anchored. They can work offline and transmit data during ascent via satellites.
By Andrey Korshunov
