Chilean Military-Science Expedition to South Pole
Oct 6, 2004 19: 58 EST
Published Agu 31, 2004 15: 46 EST
A 12 member-team of military and scientists will travel more than 2000 km in 30 days. Here's the team's press release to ThePoles.com:
"Despite the urgency to research on the effects of the global warming in the Antarctic Eco-system, in the last years only USA and some European countries have managed to send scientific expeditions to the South Pole.
High cost and complicated logistics issues have made possible only ten such research expeditions in the last decade.
In November Chile will join this global effort, becoming the first Latin American country to launch a scientific mission to the Frozen Continent and research the response of the massive glacial areas to the climate changes now experienced on the entire planet.
The announcement was made last week by Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean Minister of Defense; Claudio Teitelboim, the director of Valdivia Scientific Research (Centro de estudios Científicos de Valdivia -CECS), and the Commanders in Chief of Chilean Armed Forces, supporting and organizing the mission.
The 1.084 km long traverse will depart from Patriot Hill. The distance will be covered in ten days following meridian 83W and the mean of transportation will be a(caterpillar) tractor TL-6, purchased in Sweden and specially designed for these kind of trips – no fuel refill will be required during the entire journey.
Gravity measurements will be made every 20 km on the way to the South Pole, as well as GPS checks - in order to improve the GPS coordinates measurements operating in the world.
The same group will return from Amundsen-Scott SP base to Patriot Hill, to do new measurements every two latitude degrees. Therefore, it will take another 20 days to complete the return trip.
General Juan Emilio Cheyre, commander in Chief of the Chilean Army, spoke about the mental and physical strength required from team members to accomplish the upcoming Polar mission.
The expedition will count on the support of Chilean Air Force planes, which will transfer the expedition members from Punta Arenas to Lieutenant march Base and then to Patriot Hill: “The effort of the pioneering pilots of the eighties made possible the current flights to Antarctica which allow us to support the scientific mission”, according to Osvaldo Sarabia, commander in Chief of the Chilean Air Forces.
At the same time, Chilean Army announced as well the beginning of the Second Scientific flight over Antarctica, in agreement with NASA, to determine the changes in elevation of the ice-masses.
Admiral Vergara explained how the Chilean Army has accepted the challenge to develop a brand new low-frequency radar system, to enforce the results of the aerial research."
We couldn't find a picture of the TL-6 that the expedition plans to use, but here's an image of a 1950s model of Tractor TL-6, courtesy Tractorshed.com
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