At least they'll get some sun.
Poor NASA sods sent to spend Xmas in Antarctic ahead of satellite launch
A NASA team is heading on a trip arcing around the South Pole to check that their new satellite's measurements from space are just as good as their own back on terra firma. The ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2) will launch next year, tasked with measuring elevation around the world to investigate the changes …
COMMENTS
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Monday 18th December 2017 12:57 GMT phuzz
Re: Poor sods?
Depends on your nationality. If you're from the UK, then you should be checking the British Antarctic Survey jobs page regularly.
Otherwise, the US bases are managed by
Raytheon (yep, that Raytheon, the ones who make missiles and stuff)(not any more), Leidos (a different US defence contractor). They have their own jobs pages.If you're not from the US or UK, your home country might have their own Antarctic bases, or you might be able to get a job with the yanks.
Bare in mind though, there's many more people who want a job on the ice than there are open positions, so don't get your hopes up.
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Friday 15th December 2017 22:02 GMT Jellied Eel
I'm fairly sure it's
A) tricky to sneak a polar bear into your luggage. Even if it's in a large box labelled 'Do not open till Xmas'.
B) against a few quarantine regs and international treaties.
Explosives are OK though, as long as they're documented and licensed as seismic charges. There was an interesting blog from another BAS mission that seemed to be having a lot of fun with those around Mt Erebus.
But it would be a tad sucky if they get there and there's a problem with the launch. Maybe there's a plan-B. Penguin census?
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Saturday 16th December 2017 04:28 GMT Pompous Git
Re: deja vu
how long do they last before they are covered in snow and can't be seen by the satellite?
Dunno, but Antarctica is the driest continent. Of course there's windblown stuff, but I imagine the cubes are placed where the stuff is being blown away, rather than accumulating. Bare rock may be a giveaway.-
Saturday 16th December 2017 12:49 GMT Jellied Eel
Re: deja vu
Yup. Science is fun like that. Surrounded by ice in a desert. Not sure about rock, but AFAIK there's a lot of ice sitting on top of it that doesn't move much. So assuming the survey team's going to measure ice depth at the calibration targets. GRACE had a lot of.. fun trying to calibrate it's readings.
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Saturday 16th December 2017 20:17 GMT Alan Brown
Re: deja vu
The windblown stuff does accumulate though. The last south pole base was abandoned because the snow on top got too deep.
OTOH, if these reflectors are stuck on poles drilled in suitably deeply, then in the longer term they can be used to quantify ice movement as well as providing short term reference points.
I'd send out a team of penguins to do it, but at the 88th meridian they'd be even more lost than the polar bears.
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Saturday 16th December 2017 07:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Baby, it's cold out there...
Well, kinda. If you do "physical work", on most days in the summer (this time of year), all you really need is a good parka and bunny boots.
As for wild animals, the only ones at the pole are humans. Penguins don't get that far.
Oh, yes you will get some sun. In fact you can tell time by it. Hopefully it doesn't shine in the window at 3am (like it did to me).