Events

MINSK, 8 November (BelTA) – Polar explorers will install four new sections of the Belarusian Antarctic station during the tenth expedition, BelTA learned from the expedition head Aleksei Gaidashov on 8 November.

“The tenth Belarusian expedition will leave for Antarctica soon. We will stay there till late February — mid-March. We have plans for a broad range of scientific projects. The construction of the Belarusian Antarctic station will continue. This time we intend to install four new sections. They will include scientific labs, residential premises, and premises for sanitary and hygienic purposes,” said Aleksei Gaidashov.

Among other things the expedition will carry out scientific projects in such areas as microbiology, ground-truth observations as part of the space program, geophysical monitoring, atmospheric composition, ultraviolet radiation, climate, ozone layer monitoring. Belarusian instruments will be used in the course of the research projects.

The expedition cargo is already on its way to Antarctica on board of the Akademik Fedorov ship. The ship is on the way to Cape Town, South Africa. “In order to increase our window of opportunity and extend the research time, time for preparatory and engineering work by one month, we’ve decided to send a group of four people to Antarctica in advance. The group will reach the base by air. They will depart Belarus within the next few days. Another group of three people will leave for Cape Town on 24 November. It will join the Russian Antarctic expedition on board the Akademik Fedorov ship there and will travel to the expedition base together with the cargo,” remarked Aleksei Gaidashov.

The tenth Belarusian Antarctic expedition includes seven people: the expedition head Aleksei Gaidashov, the engineer-radio operator Maksim Gorbatsevich, the engineer-mechanic Aleksei Zakhvatov, the engineer-geophysicist Pavel Shablyko, the machines and mechanisms operator and repairman Artur Ivashko, the buildings and structures support technician and repairman Vladimir Nesterovich, and the medic Dmitry Kovko. Four of them have already been to Antarctica before.

The construction of the Belarusian Antarctic station began in 2015. The first facility — a three-section module — was assembled during the eighth expedition. The platform for the second module was installed during the ninth expedition in addition to some other structures.