Six months on the machine: the British Antarctic station works without people

An interesting example of the level of technological progress was demonstrated in his publication by Israeli blogger Alex Frol: the British Antarctic research station Halley VI has been empty for several months after all employees were evacuated from it, while continuing to conduct real research on permafrost.

A comfortable and convenient station for living with a capacity of 32 people, consisting of 26 blocks, was built in 2013 on the site of the previously demolished Halley V. It was on duty from 2013 to 2017, but then a problem arose - cracks that began to creep along the shelf. became a threat, and all employees were evacuated, and the station began to operate under the "Ghost Base" program, that is, to continue to conduct research without people. Such an opportunity is provided by an autonomous power system that supplies scientific equipment with electricity. It includes a microturbine housed in a temperature controlled container and driven by an autonomous fuel dispenser. This engine is capable of operating independently for up to 9 months. There have been no failures yet.

It provides meteorological, ozone and atmospheric monitoring of the environment. About 1 GB of data is transferred to the UK every day. Experts have already developed a scheme for transferring the station to a safer place, which will allow people to return to it...