American Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole: a campsite for aliens or a Nibiru tracking station? Speculation and reality. Panorama Amundsen-Scott (Antarctic station)

“Like flies here and there, rumors spread from house to house, and toothless old women spread them to their minds.”

V.Vysotsky

Recently, on the Internet, among other “urban legends,” at least strange messages have been migrating from resource to resource, one way or another connected with the American polar station Amundsen-Scott. It is located in Antarctica at a point coinciding with the South Geographic Pole. The informative value of this kind of information, repeatedly replicated by supporters of conspiracy theories, depends only on the imagination of one or another author. Therefore, I will not bother publishing links to such sources, limiting myself to only a brief retelling of the versions.

1. An under-ice bunker “hotel” is being built at the south pole to accommodate high-ranking alien visitors whose arrival on Earth is expected in the near future.

2. At the south pole, the United States built SPT (South Pole Telescope) - a new tracking station for Planet X/Nibiru.

In the material presented below, I did not try to get to the root of the reasons that prompted various authors to make assumptions of this kind. Also, I did not set out to prove the fallacy and show the absurdity of these insinuations. First of all, because this is a very useless exercise - for the “creators of entities” will “breed” new ones, and those who believe them boundlessly and blindly will only become stronger in their faith.

For these reasons, I will limit myself to posting information about two research projects being implemented in Antarctica at the South Pole - the IceCube neutrino “telescope” under construction and the one already in operation since February 2007. SPT, which is designed to study cosmic microwave background radiation.

1. Amundsen-Scott - American Antarctic station. Brief information.

The American Amundsen-Scott Research Station is located on top of the Antarctic ice dome, at an altitude of approximately 2850 m above sea level. When it first began its work in 1956, it was located exactly at the South Geographic Pole. However, at present, due to glacier drift, the location of the first objects of the station has shifted about a hundred meters away from the “point” of the pole. The station got its name in honor of the discoverers of the south pole - R. Amundsen and R. Scott, who reached their goal in 1911-1912. The average annual temperature is about −49°C. After the commissioning of the third stage, the station can accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.

You can take a virtual tour of the station.

2. Neutrino “telescopes”

Neutrinos, due to weak interaction with matter, can emerge from objects that are not transparent to other types of radiation and, therefore, can provide important information about the processes inside them.

The main directions of research in the field of neutrino astrophysics currently being carried out:

1. Study of the internal structure of the Sun.

2. Study of gravitational collapse of massive stars.

3. Search for neutrinos from objects in which cosmic ray acceleration appears to occur, such as binary star systems, nebulae formed after supernova explosions, nuclei of active galaxies, and sources of gamma-ray bursts.

4. Search for dark matter using neutrinos.

5.Research of neutrino oscillations using atmospheric neutrinos or solar neutrinos as a source.

6. Search for neutrinos from the bowels of the Earth (geoneutrino).

7. Study of the rate of formation of massive stars in early epochs based on the diffuse neutrino flux from all gravitational collapses

In June 2005 it was decided to combine the largest neutrino detectors on four continents (Super-Kamiokande in Japan, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada, Large Volume Detector in Italy and Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector at the South Pole of the Earth) into a single network called SNEWS (SuperNova Early Warning System). The results of round-the-clock monitoring are sent to a central computer located at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA. The purpose of the experiment is to give for the first time an early and, most importantly, reliable forecast of supernova explosions in our Galaxy.

In Russia, research in the field of elementary particle physics, the atomic nucleus, cosmic ray physics and neutrino astrophysics is carried out by the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, established by a resolution of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences dated December 24, 1970. based on a government decision taken at the initiative of the Nuclear Physics Division. The Institute is a pioneer in the development of research in the field of underground and deep-sea neutrino physics. In the North Caucasus, the Institute built the Baksan Neutrino Observatory with a complex of large-scale underground neutrino telescopes (gallium-germanium) and large-area ground-based installations for research in the field of solar neutrino physics, cosmic ray physics and neutrino astrophysics. On Lake Baikal, the Institute created the world's first stationary deep-sea neutrino telescope to detect high-energy neutrinos passing through the globe.

2.1. Underground neutrino “telescopes”

The method of recording charged particles produced by the interaction of neutrinos is very diverse - scintillation tanks (Baksan Scintillation Telescope), streamer tubes (MACRO installation), registration of Cherenkov light in water (Super-Kamiokande and SNO installations). The energy threshold of the installations is 510 MeV. To reduce the background from atmospheric muons, neutrino telescopes are placed in rooms shielded from the surface by a layer of soil 1-2 km thick. It should be noted that a number of installations (IMB, NUSEX, FREJUS, SOUDAN) were created in the 80s primarily to search for proton decay.

The largest existing underground neutrino telescope is the Super-Kamiokande water Cherenkov detector (Japan). The detector is a steel cylindrical tank (41 m high and 38 m in diameter) filled with water. The total mass of water is 50 thousand tons. The internal volume is viewed by 11 thousand photomultiplier tubes with a photocathode diameter of 50 cm, evenly placed along the inner surface of the tank. The area covered by photomultiplier tube photocathodes is approximately equal to 40% of the total internal area of ​​the tank. Outside, the reservoir is surrounded on all sides by a 2.5 m thick layer of water, also visible through photomultiplier tubes. A large number of photomultipliers makes it possible to obtain a detailed “image” of an event and to separate events from the interaction of muon neutrinos with the formation of a muon from events caused by the interaction of electron neutrinos with an electron in the final state. The presence of active protection makes it possible to identify neutrino events not only from below, i.e. from neutrinos passing the Earth, but also from above.

2.2. Optical neutrino “telescopes” in natural environments

The idea of ​​registering neutrinos in natural bodies of water using the Cherenkov radiation of a muon generated during the interaction of neutrinos was proposed in the early 60s by M.A. Markov (Markov, 1960), but only in the 90s the idea found its experimental embodiment.

A deep-sea neutrino telescope can be represented as a system of spatially separated photodetectors (photomultipliers with a large photocathode area or hybrid photodetectors, such as Quasar-370 in the Baikal deep-sea neutrino telescope NT200). The distance between the photodetectors coincides in order of magnitude with the light absorption length. Neutrinos and, accordingly, muons from neutrinos cross the detector from all directions, but it is possible to separate muons from neutrinos from muons produced in the decays of pions and kaons only from directions from the lower hemisphere (from under the Earth). Indeed, only a neutrino can cross the globe and produce a muon near the surface.

Photodetectors are placed in glass spheres to protect them from external water pressure. A photodetector with additional electronics necessary for its operation (high voltage sources, divider, preamplifier, LED for calibration) is usually called an optical module. The optical modules are attached to a vertical cable with a buoy at one end and an anchor at the other. A cable with optical modules is usually called a garland or string (from the English string).

Discussions about the project for the first deep-sea neutrino telescope began in the mid-70s. The project was called DUMAND (Deep Underwater Muon and NeutrinoDetection). It was planned to create a deep-sea neutrino telescope in the Pacific Ocean, 20 km from one of the Hawaiian islands. During the work on this project, the methodological foundation for future experiments was laid, but the project itself was not implemented.

Since the early 80s, experiments on deep-sea recording of muons and neutrinos have been conducted on Lake Baikal. The impetus for the development of work on Lake Baikal was the remark of A.E. Chudakov, who drew attention to the fact that the presence of strong ice on Lake Baikal for almost 2 months makes it possible to carry out work on the deployment of a deep-sea installation relatively simply and cheaply. In 1998 The Baikal neutrino telescope NT200 was put into operation. The telescope is located in the southern part of the lake at a distance of 3.6 km from the shore. The center of the telescope is located at a depth of 1150m. This is the world's first successful experience in creating deep-sea installations of this scale. Currently, the expansion of the NT200 installation to the NT200+ installation has been completed. In the new configuration, three external strings have been added to the HT200 telescope at a distance of 100m from the center of the HT200. The sensitivity of the new installation to ultra-high-energy neutrinos has increased fourfold. The design of a deep-sea telescope with a volume of 1 km3 has begun.

Location of HT200

Schematic representation of the NT200 telescope. Separately shown are 2 pairs (4) of optical modules and an electronic module (3), forming a structural unit of the telescope, a “bundle”. 1 - detector electronics unit, 5,6 - lasers used for calibration.

Experimental diagram of a string with detecting and control modules on it. (SEM - electronic string module, DEM - electronic detector module)

Schematic of the expanded NT-200+ (profile and top view shown)

"Quasar" has a high voltage inside the bulb - 25 kV, so the Earth's magnetic field does not distort the trajectories of photoelectrons inside the bulb. "Quasar" has a very large diameter of the sensitive layer (370mm). This device can withstand pressure up to 150 atmospheres at a depth of 1100-1200m.

The effective areas and volumes of neutrino telescopes in natural environments significantly exceed the areas and volumes of underground installations, and the energy threshold is significantly higher - 10100 GeV. The main tasks of neutrino telescopes in natural environments are the study of the flux of high and ultra-high energy neutrinos from cosmic sources, the search for dark matter, as well as the search for exotic particles predicted by modern theory (magnetic monopoles, strangelets, Q-balls)

2.3. Non-optical neutrino telescope projects

A reasonable limit for the volume of optical neutrino telescopes, at least for the next 20 years, is 1 cubic meter. km. Possible ways to increase the volume of neutrino telescopes and, therefore, move into the region of higher energies are associated with recording acoustic and high-frequency (100-1000 MHz) radio signals from electromagnetic and hadron cascades. The existence of acoustic and radio frequency signals from electromagnetic cascades was predicted in 1957 by G. Askaryan.

Currently, acoustic detectors are in the design stage and studying methods for isolating a useful signal from noise. It is assumed that the optical neutrino telescopes being created (HT200+, NESTOR, ANTARES, IceCube) will be supplemented with acoustic signal detectors to expand the effective registration volume. The possibility of using a system of hydrophones created by the US Navy near the Bahamas (AUTEC project) and an array of acoustic antennas installed in Kamchatka to monitor submarines in the Pacific Ocean (AGAM project) to register cascades from neutrinos is being discussed.

Projects using high-frequency radio signal recording techniques are developing more successfully. For several years now, the RICE (Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment) installation, consisting of 20 antennas frozen in the ice, has been operating at the South Pole. During the Antarctic summer season 2006-2007. It is planned to launch a balloon around the South Pole with an installation capable of detecting radio signals from neutrino interactions in thick Antarctic ice (ANITA project). From a height of 35 km, the installation will view a huge volume. It is assumed that in this experiment it will be possible to register the first events from ultra-high-energy neutrinos (>1017 eV). In the GLUE experiment, an attempt was made to register the signal from the interaction of neutrinos with the Moon using 2 radio telescopes.

2.4. Possibilities of observing signals from ultra-high energy neutrinos at the designed EAS installations

To study cosmic rays with energies above 1020 eV, an Auger installation with an area of ​​3000 square meters is being created in Argentina. km to record widespread air showers. Installations for detecting fluorescent light from EAS from satellites are being actively designed. Such installations (a mirror and a mosaic of photomultiplier tubes) will view an area tens of times larger than the area of ​​the Auger installation from an orbital altitude (500 km). Currently, there are three projects: the European project EUSO, the American project OWL and the Russian KLPVE.

Although the main goal of the new installations is to study cosmic rays above the CMB cutoff, these installations are also of interest for ultra-high-energy neutrino astrophysics.

2.5. Antarctic AMANDA and IceCube - optical neutrino “telescopes” in natural environments

In the early 90s, work began on the creation of the AMANDA neutrino telescope at the South Pole, at the American Amundsen-Scott station. The South Pole is known to be covered with ice about 3 km thick. The project was made possible thanks to a unique technique for creating deep (2 km!) channels in ice using hot water. The channel freezes after about 2 days and this time is enough to install a garland of photodetectors, but it is no longer possible to lift and repair the garland. Currently, AMANDA consists of 677 photodetectors located on 19 strings and is the largest neutrino telescope.

Work has begun on expanding the installation to a volume of 1 km3. The new IceCube installation will consist of 4,800 optical modules on 80 strings. An IceTop installation will be located above the installation to record widespread air showers from cosmic rays.

An ordinary telescope made of glass and metal seen from above IceCube (ice cube) at the American polar station Amundsen-Scott

IceCube is planned to be put into operation in 2011. Like its predecessor, the AMANDA muon neutrino detector, IceCube will be located deep under the Antarctic ice. At a depth of 1450 to 2450m, strong “threads” with attached optical detectors (photomultipliers) will be placed. Each “thread” will have 60 photomultiplier tubes. The optical system detects Cherenkov radiation from high-energy muons moving in an upward direction (that is, from underground). These muons can only be created through the interaction of muon neutrinos passing through the Earth with electrons and nucleons of ice (and a layer of soil under the ice, about 1 km thick). The flux of muons moving from top to bottom is much higher, but they are mostly generated in the upper layers of the atmosphere by cosmic ray particles. Thousands of kilometers of earthly matter serve as a filter, cutting off all particles that experience strong or electromagnetic interactions (muons, nucleons, gamma rays, etc.). Of all the known particles, only neutrinos can pass right through the Earth. Thus, although IceCube is located at the South Pole, it detects neutrinos coming from the northern hemisphere of the sky.

The name of the detector is due to the fact that the total volume of the Cherenkov radiator (ice) used in it in the design configuration will reach 1 cubic meter. km.

Neutrino telescopes IceCubeAmanda. Installation for recording EAS IceTop and

Appearance of sensors frozen in ice

Research planned at IceCube

Neutrino detection

Although the design rate of neutrino registration by the detector is low, the angular resolution is quite good. Within several years, a map of the flux of high-energy neutrinos from the northern celestial hemisphere is expected to be constructed.

Gamma radiation sources

Collisions of protons with protons or with photons usually generate elementary particles pions. A charged pion decays primarily into a muon and a muon neutrino, while a neutral pion typically decays into two gamma rays. Potentially, the neutrino flux could coincide with the gamma ray flux for sources such as gamma-ray bursts and supernova remnants. Data from IceCube, combined with data from high-energy gamma-ray detectors such as HESS and MAGIC, will help better understand the nature of these phenomena.

String theory

Given the power and location of the observatory, scientists intend to conduct a series of experiments designed to confirm or refute some of the statements of string theory, in particular the existence of the so-called sterile neutrino.

The $19.2 million SPT project was funded by the National Science Foundation with support from the Kavli Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The height of the telescope is 22m, and the weight is 280t. It was initially assembled and tested in Kilgore, Texas, then disassembled, transported by ship to New Zealand, and from there by LC-130 to the South Pole. Like any project in Antarctica, SPT went through a long and complex logistics chain that stretched across the world. After delivery, from November 2006. a team of scientists led by Steve Padin, an employee of the University of Chicago, worked on assembling the telescope. SPT is currently the largest astronomical instrument at the American Amundsen-Scott Research Station.

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Amundsen-Scott Station, named after the discoverers of the South Pole, amazes with its scale and technology. In a complex of buildings around which there is nothing but ice for thousands of kilometers, there is literally its own separate world. They didn’t reveal all the scientific and research secrets to us, but they gave us an interesting tour of the residential blocks and showed us how polar explorers live...

Initially, during construction, the station was located exactly at the geographic south pole, but due to ice movement over several years, the base shifted to the side by 200 meters:

3.

This is our DC-3 aircraft. In fact, it was heavily modified by Basler and almost all of its components, including avionics and engines, are new:

4.

The plane can land both on the ground and on ice:

5.

This photo clearly shows how close the station is to the historical South Pole (group of flags in the center). And the lone flag on the right is the geographic South Pole:

6.

Upon arrival, we were met by a station employee and gave us a tour of the main building:

7.

It stands on stilts, just like many houses in the north. This was done to prevent the building from melting the ice underneath and “floating.” In addition, the space below is well blown by winds (in particular, the snow under the station has not been cleared even once since its construction):

8.

Entrance to the station: you need to climb two flights of stairs. Due to the thin air, this is not easy to do:

9.

Residential blocks:

10.

At the Pole, during our visit, it was -25 degrees. We arrived in full uniform - three layers of clothing, hats, balaclavas, etc. - and then we were suddenly met by a guy in a light sweater and Crocs. He said that he was used to it: he had already survived several winters and the maximum frost he experienced here was minus 73 degrees. For about forty minutes, while we were walking around the station, he walked around looking like this:

11.

The inside of the station is simply amazing. Let's start with the fact that it has a huge gym. Popular games among employees are basketball and badminton. To heat the station, 10,000 gallons of aviation kerosene per week are used:

12.

Some statistics: 170 people live and work at the station, 50 people stay in the winter. They feed for free in the local canteen. They work 6 days a week, 9 hours a day. Everyone has a day off on Sunday. The cooks also have a day off and everyone, as a rule, eats what was left uneaten in the refrigerator from Saturday:

13.

There is a room for playing music (in the title photo), and in addition to the sports room, there is a gym:

14.

There is a room for trainings, conferences and similar events. When we passed by, there was a Spanish lesson going on:

15.

The station is two-story. On each floor it is pierced by a long corridor. Residential blocks go to the right, scientific and research blocks go to the left:

16.

Conference room:

17.

There is a balcony next to it, with a view of the station’s outbuildings:

18.

Everything that can be stored in unheated rooms lies in these hangars:

19.

This is the Ice cube neutrino observatory, with which scientists catch neutrinos from space. Briefly, it works like this: The collision of a neutrino and an atom produces particles known as muons and a flash of blue light called Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. In transparent Arctic ice, IceCube's optical sensors will be able to recognize it. Usually, for neutrino observatories, they dig a shaft at depth and fill it with water, but the Americans decided not to waste time on trifles and built an Ice cube at the South Pole, where there is plenty of ice. The size of the observatory is 1 cubic kilometer, hence, apparently, the name. Project cost: $270 million:

20.

Theme "made a bow" on the balcony overlooking our plane:

21.

Throughout the base there are invitations to seminars and master classes. Here's an example of a writing workshop:

22.

I noticed the palm tree garlands attached to the ceiling. Apparently there is a longing for summer and warmth among the employees:

23.

Old station sign. Amundsen and Scott are two discoverers of the pole who conquered the South Pole almost simultaneously (well, if you look at it in a historical context) with a month difference:

24.

In front of this station there was another one, it was called "Dome". in 2010 it was finally dismantled and this photo shows the last day:

25.

Recreation room: billiards, darts, books and magazines:

26.

Scientific laboratory. They didn’t let us in, but they opened the door slightly. Pay attention to the trash cans: separate waste collection is practiced at the station:

27.

Fire departments. Standard American system: everyone has their own closet, in front of them is a completely finished uniform:

28.

You just need to run up, jump into your boots and put on:

29.

Computer club. Probably, when the station was built, it was relevant, but now everyone has laptops and comes here, I think, to play games online. There is no Wi-Fi at the station, but there is personal Internet access at a speed of 10 kb per second. Unfortunately, they didn’t give it to us, and I never managed to check in at the pole:

30.

Just like in the ANI camp, water is the most expensive commodity at the station. For example, it costs one and a half dollars to flush a toilet:

31.

Medical center:

32.

I looked up and looked at how perfectly the wires were laid out. Not like it happens here, and especially somewhere in Asia:

33.

The station houses the most expensive and most difficult to find souvenir shop in the world. A year ago, Evgeny Kaspersky was here, and he didn’t have cash (he wanted to pay with a card). When I went, Zhenya gave me a thousand dollars and asked me to buy everything in the store. Of course, I filled my bag with souvenirs, after which my fellow travelers began to quietly hate me, since I created a queue for half an hour.

By the way, in this store you can buy beer and soda, but they sell them only to station employees:

34.

There is a table with South Pole stamps. We all took our passports and stamped them:

35.

The station even has its own greenhouse and greenhouse. Now there is no need for them, since there is communication with the outside world. And in winter, when communication with the outside world is interrupted for several months, employees grow their own vegetables and herbs:

36.

Each employee has the right to use the laundry once a week. He can go to the shower 2 times a week for 2 minutes, that is, 4 minutes a week. I was told that they usually save everything and wash it once every two weeks. To be honest, I already guessed from the smell:

37.

Library:

38.

39.

And this is a corner of creativity. There is everything you can imagine: sewing threads, paper and paints for drawing, prefabricated models, cardboard, etc. Now I really want to go to one of our polar stations and compare their life and amenities:

40.

At the historic South Pole there is a stick that has not changed since the days of the discoverers. And the marker for the geographic South Pole is moved every year to adjust for ice movement. The station has a small museum of knobs accumulated over the years:

41.

In the next post I will talk about the South Pole itself. Stay Tuned!

Amundsen-Scott Station, named after the discoverers of the South Pole, amazes with its scale and technology. In a complex of buildings around which there is nothing but ice for thousands of kilometers, there is literally its own separate world. They didn’t reveal all the scientific and research secrets to us, but they gave us an interesting tour of the residential blocks and showed us how polar explorers live...

Initially, during construction, the station was located exactly at the geographic south pole, but due to ice movement over several years, the base shifted to the side by 200 meters:

3.

This is our DC-3 aircraft. In fact, it was heavily modified by Basler and almost all of its components, including avionics and engines, are new:

4.

The plane can land both on the ground and on ice:

5.

This photo clearly shows how close the station is to the historical South Pole (group of flags in the center). And the lone flag on the right is the geographic South Pole:

6.

Upon arrival, we were met by a station employee and gave us a tour of the main building:

7.

It stands on stilts, just like many houses in the north. This was done to prevent the building from melting the ice underneath and “floating.” In addition, the space below is well blown by winds (in particular, the snow under the station has not been cleared even once since its construction):

8.

Entrance to the station: you need to climb two flights of stairs. Due to the thin air, this is not easy to do:

9.

Residential blocks:

10.

At the Pole, during our visit, it was -25 degrees. We arrived in full uniform - three layers of clothing, hats, balaclavas, etc. - and then we were suddenly met by a guy in a light sweater and Crocs. He said that he was used to it: he had already survived several winters and the maximum frost he experienced here was minus 73 degrees. For about forty minutes, while we were walking around the station, he walked around looking like this:

11.

The inside of the station is simply amazing. Let's start with the fact that it has a huge gym. Popular games among employees are basketball and badminton. To heat the station, 10,000 gallons of aviation kerosene per week are used:

12.

Some statistics: 170 people live and work at the station, 50 people stay in the winter. They feed for free in the local canteen. They work 6 days a week, 9 hours a day. Everyone has a day off on Sunday. The cooks also have a day off and everyone, as a rule, eats what was left uneaten in the refrigerator from Saturday:

13.

There is a room for playing music (in the title photo), and in addition to the sports room, there is a gym:

14.

There is a room for trainings, conferences and similar events. When we passed by, there was a Spanish lesson going on:

15.

The station is two-story. On each floor it is pierced by a long corridor. Residential blocks go to the right, scientific and research blocks go to the left:

16.

Conference room:

17.

There is a balcony next to it, with a view of the station’s outbuildings:

18.

Everything that can be stored in unheated rooms lies in these hangars:

19.

This is the Ice cube neutrino observatory, with which scientists catch neutrinos from space. Briefly, it works like this: The collision of a neutrino and an atom produces particles known as muons and a flash of blue light called Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. In transparent Arctic ice, IceCube's optical sensors will be able to recognize it. Usually, for neutrino observatories, they dig a shaft at depth and fill it with water, but the Americans decided not to waste time on trifles and built an Ice cube at the South Pole, where there is plenty of ice. The size of the observatory is 1 cubic kilometer, hence, apparently, the name. Project cost: $270 million:

20.

Theme "made a bow" on the balcony overlooking our plane:

21.

Throughout the base there are invitations to seminars and master classes. Here's an example of a writing workshop:

22.

I noticed the palm tree garlands attached to the ceiling. Apparently there is a longing for summer and warmth among the employees:

23.

Old station sign. Amundsen and Scott are two discoverers of the pole who conquered the South Pole almost simultaneously (well, if you look at it in a historical context) with a month difference:

24.

In front of this station there was another one, it was called "Dome". in 2010 it was finally dismantled and this photo shows the last day:

25.

Recreation room: billiards, darts, books and magazines:

26.

Scientific laboratory. They didn’t let us in, but they opened the door slightly. Pay attention to the trash cans: separate waste collection is practiced at the station:

27.

Fire departments. Standard American system: everyone has their own closet, in front of them is a completely finished uniform:

28.

You just need to run up, jump into your boots and put on:

29.

Computer club. Probably, when the station was built, it was relevant, but now everyone has laptops and comes here, I think, to play games online. There is no Wi-Fi at the station, but there is personal Internet access at a speed of 10 kb per second. Unfortunately, they didn’t give it to us, and I never managed to check in at the pole:

30.

Just like in the ANI camp, water is the most expensive commodity at the station. For example, it costs one and a half dollars to flush a toilet:

31.

Medical center:

32.

I looked up and looked at how perfectly the wires were laid out. Not like it happens here, and especially somewhere in Asia:

33.

The station houses the most expensive and most difficult to find souvenir shop in the world. A year ago, Evgeny Kaspersky was here, and he didn’t have cash (he wanted to pay with a card). When I went, Zhenya gave me a thousand dollars and asked me to buy everything in the store. Of course, I filled my bag with souvenirs, after which my fellow travelers began to quietly hate me, since I created a queue for half an hour.

By the way, in this store you can buy beer and soda, but they sell them only to station employees:

34.

There is a table with South Pole stamps. We all took our passports and stamped them:

35.

The station even has its own greenhouse and greenhouse. Now there is no need for them, since there is communication with the outside world. And in winter, when communication with the outside world is interrupted for several months, employees grow their own vegetables and herbs:

36.

Each employee has the right to use the laundry once a week. He can go to the shower 2 times a week for 2 minutes, that is, 4 minutes a week. I was told that they usually save everything and wash it once every two weeks. To be honest, I already guessed from the smell:

37.

Library:

38.

39.

And this is a corner of creativity. There is everything you can imagine: sewing threads, paper and paints for drawing, prefabricated models, cardboard, etc. Now I really want to go to one of our polar stations and compare their life and amenities:

40.

At the historic South Pole there is a stick that has not changed since the days of the discoverers. And the marker for the geographic South Pole is moved every year to adjust for ice movement. The station has a small museum of knobs accumulated over the years:

41.

In the next post I will talk about the South Pole itself. Stay Tuned!

In 1975, a new complex of structures came into operation, the main one of which was the dome, under which there were residential and scientific premises. The dome was designed to accommodate up to 44 people in summer and up to 18 in winter. But over time, the capacity of the dome and the structures attached to it became insufficient, and in 1999, construction of a new complex began.

The aluminum unheated “tent” is a landmark of the pole. There was even a post office, a shop and a pub.
Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow and the design of the dome was not the most successful. A huge amount of fuel was wasted to remove snow, and delivery of a liter of fuel costs $7.
The equipment from 1975 is completely outdated.
The main feature is modularity and adjustable height - the main modules are raised on hydraulic supports. This will protect the station from being covered with snow, as happened with the first station and partially with the dome. The existing headroom should be enough for fifteen winters, and if necessary, the supports can rise another 7.5 meters
Station personnel moved into new buildings back in 2003, but it took several more years to complete the construction of additional facilities and modernize existing ones. On January 15, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of the new complex. According to the project, the station will be able to accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter. Research will be conducted across the whole complex, from astrophysics to seismology.
The unique design on stilts allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. And the sloping shape of the lower part of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which would additionally blow out snow. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles and then it will be possible to jack up the station twice, which increased the service life of the station from 30 to 45 years.
Construction materials were delivered by Hercules aircraft from McMurdo Station on the shore and only during daylight hours. More than 1000 flights were made.
The complex has an 11-kilometer low-frequency antenna for predicting celestial and cosmic storms, the highest 10-meter telescope at the pole, rising 7 floors up and weighing 275 thousand kg. and a drilling rig (up to 2.5 km) to study neutrinos.
On January 15, 2008, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of the new modern complex. The station will be able to accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.