Arctic isolation for science
Soon to be frozen in space and time, this alien-looking vessel is beginning its first mission into drifting ice in the Arctic Ocean. A dozen people won’t leave it for eight months to study how life adapts to extremes in a region highly sensitive to climate change.
The winter crew will spend most of that time without seeing the Sun onboard this unique scientific observatory. The long polar night will last 120 days, with average winter temperatures of −25°C.
Trapped in Arctic ice for science, this laboratory-observatory developed by the Tara Ocean Foundation shares many of the implacable isolation and environmental conditions of the International Space Station or the Concordia station in Antarctica. Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) see the Tara Polaris I expedition as a unique opportunity to study human behaviour on a drifting laboratory.
The crew consists of scientists, sailors, a media professional and a physician, all of whom underwent the same psychological screening given to teams at the Concordia station, who spend months completely cut off from the rest of the world.
“The challenge is extraordinary for this mission, which simulates long-duration spaceflight isolation and confinement. Moving sea ice adds uncertainty and psychological stress compared with a winter-over at the stationary Concordia base,” explains Melike Balk, ESA’s science coordinator for the mission.
ESA is contributing questionnaires based on international standards to monitor the crew’s health, including sleep, stress and cognitive performance as they cope with the challenges of the dark and cold winter months. Melike is particularly interested in comparing outcomes between the reduced oxygen and air pressure at Concordia Station, which sits at an altitude of 3223 m above sea level, and the sea-level conditions at the Tara Polar Station.
“It will be fascinating to compare the personal experiences of the Tara crew with tales of the Concordia winterers. While Concordia is similar to a habitat on a white Mars, Tara will be more like the spaceship travelling towards it… With the two missions combined, we have a unique chance to gain insights for future deep space exploration,” adds Carmen Possnig, who spent 13 months as a research medical doctor at Concordia station and will be coordinating the experiments taking place during the next winter-over. She is also a member of ESA's astronaut reserve.
ESA and the Tara Polaris consortium are also exploring a long-term Earth observation partnership focused on calibrating satellite data. During the first drift, ESA will share the exact times and paths of several satellites flying over the vessel. With that information, the crew onboard can take scientific measurements as the satellites pass overhead and compare their on-ground data with the orbital observations. The missions involved are Copernicus Sentinel-3 and ESA's EarthCare and Cryosat satellites.
Tara Polaris I is the first of ten research drifts planned over the next 20 years. The oval-shaped, 27-metre drifting polar base sits in the Arctic to study the biodiversity under the polar pack ice in the world’s fastest-warming region.
The crew will finish the first wintering leg of the expedition in April 2027. By the end of next year, the vessel will break through the ice and make its way back to France, passing between the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and Greenland.
