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ESA-sponsored medical physician Nick Smith snapped this picture of the storage containers at Concordia analysis station in Antarctica shortly earlier than sundown, 8 April 2021. The darkish blue line on the horizon is the shadow of the Earth.The containers retailer meals, recycling and the scientific samples of blood, saliva, and stool that Nick routinely takes. The items on the precise are a part of the summer season camp, throughout which researchers sleep in tents. Science for the good thing about area exploration doesn’t solely occur off planet. While some research require the weightless isolation of the International Space Station, Antarctica additionally gives the precise situations for investigating the results of spaceflight, and it’s a little simpler to entry than area.Part of the 17th crew to spend a complete yr at one of the vital distant bases on this planet, Nick and 11 different crew members have taken up the adventurous problem within the backdrop of a pandemic to proceed vital analysis that’s furthering area exploration.Located on the mountain plateau referred to as Dome C, Concordia is a collaboration between the French Polar Institute and the Italian Antarctic programme, and is considered one of solely three bases that’s inhabited all yr lengthy. As effectively as providing round 9 months of full isolation, Concordia’s location at 3233 m altitude means the crew expertise persistent hypobaric hypoxia – lack of oxygen within the mind.During the Antarctic winter, the crew of as much as 15 folks additionally endure 4 months of full darkness: the solar disappears from May and isn’t seen once more till late August.Temperatures can drop to –80°C within the winter, with a yearly common of –50°C. The temperature on the time of this picture was -65°C, with wind chill at about -80°C. To put this chilly into perspective, it was so chilly that the digicam battery died inside ten minutes. As a station set in Earth’s harshest area, Concordia is a perfect stand-in for finding out the human psychological and physiological results of maximum chilly, isolation and darkness. For the remainder of the yr, Nick is poking and prodding the crew for samples to review adjustments in temper, immune programs, blood cells, and intestine well being.Follow his adventures on the Chronicles from Concordia weblog.
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