Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 25 October 2024: Setting Up Base Camp
Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen is back in Antarctica at Lake Untersee for another field season of research (preview). Dale’s work is coordinated through the SETI Institute. We’ll be posting his updates here. You can read about his prior exploits here.
25 October 2024 7:06 pm EDT
Dale: “After our arrival at Untersee we immersed set up two tents for shelter. Later in the evening the Prinoth Everest tracked vehicles arrived with our cargo and after Miles and I escorted them down the glacier we unloaded everything. They elected to depart around 10pm to get ahead of the inclement weather conditions that may hit us later tonight. Today we set up an additional tent and organize ed cargo . Hopefully tonight and tomorrow will not be too difficult but we are well prepared! Good night, it’s been a long day! 😊Dale”
25 October 2024 5:46 pm EDT
Dale and his team have started to set up their base camp at Lake Untersee, Antarctica. They have spent two nights there thus far. In this image you can see a Hemiplanet tent. This is the second year that Dale’s team has used these tents. According to Dale: “this is an improved version based on our input after last year. Might be getting its first test tonight and tomorrow if predictions for 50 mph winds arrive”. There is an interesting connection between Lake Untersee, Hemiplanet and “Star Trek Strange New Worlds”. See: “That Time Star Trek Tents Were Actually Used In Antarctica“
If you look closely to the right of the tent you will see a Starlink satellite terminal which offers much better communication capability than has been available in the past. The video above was taken today and sent shortly thereafter. In previous years that would have been impossible. More on that in a future post.
One of the team’s Lynx Commander snowmobiles is shown with two cargo sledges. On The shore on the right you can see two more base camp tents. Larger image
Related links.
- Keith: Dale and I have been proving research updates – from Antarctica – since 1996. We think we actually had the first webserver (located in my old condo) updated from Antarctica. More details here: Andersen’s 1996 Antarctic Field Research Photo Albums
Astrobiology
