icebreaker Archives

Drilling Base Camp, Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica -- BAS

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice World Expedition: Drilling Through Thwaites Glacier In West Antarctica

by Keith CowingMarch 12, 2026March 12, 2026

A team of researchers from the UK and Korea has reached the most inaccessible and least-understood part of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica where they will drill through the glacier […]

The Ross Ice Shelf at the Bay of Whales, Antarctica, and the Palmer in the background. (Credit: Michael Van Woert/ NOAA)

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release

Limiting Ice World Exploration: U.S. Will Retire Its Only Icebreaker Thus Stranding Polar Research

by Keith CowingSeptember 18, 2025September 18, 2025

Editor’s note: space agencies around the world have long used polar locations as analogs wherein the sudy of geology and biology informs our understanding of the extremes to which Earth […]