Antarctic Research Stations: Parallels for Interplanetary Design
- Paper number
IAC-08.E5.3.2
- Author
Mr. Hugh Broughton, Hugh Broughton Architects, United Kingdom
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest and least populated continent on earth. Its vast, unspoilt landscape holds the key to vital earth system science, helping mankind to understand a vast array of scientific phenomena in the fields of geology, biology, meteorology, glaciology, astronomy and geospace science. To carry out this vital research, scientists must endure the harshest living conditions on our planet, living in isolated and self-sufficient research stations. The design requirements for these bases vary greatly depending on their location, local climate, size, population, usage, scientific aspirations, budget, logistic processes and national origin. The author is the architect for two Antarctic Research Stations: Halley VI for the British Antarctic Survey and the remodelling of the Juan Carlos 1 Spanish Antarctic Research Station on Livingstone Island in the South Shetland Islands. The British base is currently under construction on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf and will be operational in 2010. It is open all year round with a crew of 52 working there in the short Austral summer and only 16 staying on site in the 9-month winter season. Hydraulically elevated steel framed, fiber reinforced polymer clad ski-based modules have been designed to respond to annually rising snow levels and the need to relocate the base if the site calves off as a giant iceberg. A special central module will provide a dramatic open plan living and social area at the heart of the station. The Spanish base will be used in the summer months only and will be constructed on a raised beach of glacial deposits. The station design needs to minimise maintenance and allow opening and closing at the start and end of each season to be achieved as quickly and efficiently as possible. New raised mococoque fiber reinforced polymer structures will be erected over two 3-month seasons and provide accommodation for 24 people in single rooms, with the option to expand the population to 40 over the next 15 years. The paper will review the progress of the British base; explain technical and logistic lessons learnt during construction and ways in which these have informed the design of the new Spanish station. The paper will conclude by examining the opportunities for vital environmental and human factor research available to the space community through association with Antarctic research programs.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)