How to get to Concordia

Dr. Sascha Freigang is the ESA-sponsored medical doctor from Germany spending 12 months at Concordia research station in Antarctica for the 2022–2023 winter. He facilitates a number of experiments on the effects of isolation, light deprivation, and extreme temperatures on the human body and mind.

BLOG 2 – Concordia 08.11.2022

Hello everyone. This is my first blog entry written at Concordia. The team, partly consisting of the majority of the winter-over crew and also people for the summer campaign, arrived together two days ago (from writing this text, not its posting online). Therefore, these are my very first impressions from Concordia. It is now half past five in the morning; the station is very calm and there is constant daylight outside at around –50°C. But before I go more into detail, some words about how to get to Concordia.

Due to thin ice at the Italian Station Mario Zucchelli, our way led us from Christchurch to the American McMurdo Station. We flew around four hours in a commercial Airbus A319 airliner and landed in a white dessert. Before landing, we could see the east coast of Antarctica, a truly beautiful sight with infinite snow and ice. To mitigate the Covid risk, we walked directly from one aircraft to the next one. This one was an 80-year-old DC3 Basler and if not before, the journey now started to feel like an adventure.

After a short flight of 90 minutes, we arrived at Mario Zucchelli station, where we spent two days before the well-anticipated day of going to Concordia came. During the stay at Mario Zucchelli, we were able to see the building of a new runway on land, which in the future will make logistics to Antarctica easier and independent from the ice thickness. It was easy to recognise the incredible effort it takes to build this infrastructure in such a remote place.

The flight from to Concordia was about four hours long when we finally arrived. Just after landing from afar, the station looked smaller than I had imagined and as we taxied almost directly to the front door, the long journey throughout this year was over and the next chapter about to begin. Upon arrival we walked directly to the station, on these maybe 100m, I met Hannes Hagson the DC-18 ESA research medical doctor in person for the first time (see mandatory arrival selfie). We had exchanged messages during preparation and it was a very warm welcome.

At the station, basic vital signs were taken and we were allocated to our rooms with the warning to keep physical activity to a minimum. After all, we effortlessly went from sea level to around 3200 m altitude, which at the polar regions converts to an atmospheric pressure around of 4000 m altitude in Europe (629,3 hPa at arrival to be precise). Symptoms of mountain sickness were very present for the first 24 hours but eased off gradually. During the first 48 hours, instructions and tours in the station followed. The station is a truly remarkable place, not only because of the beauty of its remoteness, but also the technical operation is very impressive. Experts may excuse my basic explanation, but for some it might be interesting to know a bit about how the station functions. The energy supply comes from three generators run by Jet A1 fuel, only one is needed to power the station. In addition, some solar panels are close to the station, especially useful during the summer period, as daylight never ceases. Water is partly recycled by a complex device developed in collaboration with ESA, which also served as a model for the water recycling system on the International Space Station. However, drinking water comes from fresh melted snow. The station itself is a comfortable place with living room areas, great food and interesting people. Because of the cold weather gear, we received before departure, a walk around the station at -45°C felt not very cold at all. Yet, the remoteness and the sight of an endless flat white surface with the small two towers of Concordia in the middle, made me feel a bit like being on another planet, or is this just my enthusiasm for spaceflight playing a trick on me?

The next days will be filled with the hand-over from Hannes and settling into station life, also including the formation and training of the rescue team, which is part of the ESA medical doctor responsibility. From this entry, 92 days are estimated until the start of winter-over and departure of the last plane.