Mobile communication service may become available at Russia's Vostok Antarctic station
ST. PETERSBURG. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Russian polar explorers will consider the possibility of mobile communication service at Russia's only inland Antarctic station Vostok.
A sleigh-and-track convoy carrying ten members of the Vostok station's winter team of Russian Antarctic Expedition 66 and "one employee of a seasonal team who is tasked with analyzing the possibility of installing mobile communication equipment at the station" departed from the Progress station to Vostok in the morning of January 20, the Russian Antarctic Expedition said.
The convoy also includes 19 driver-mechanics of 11 Polar-300 tow-trucks.
The convoy covered a distance of 70 kilometers on the first day. There are 1,292 kilometers left to Vostok. It is cloudy, and temperatures average -13 degrees Celsius, the expedition said.
Mobile communication service became available at Russia's first Antarctic station Progress in early 2020, and similar equipment is now being installed at the Novolazarevskaya station. Both stations are located on the coast of the continent. Vostok is the only inland Antarctic station operated by Russia; it is located 1,260 kilometers away from the shore.
Russian stations used satellite communication before mobile service became available. The first satellite communication stations were installed at the Molodyozhnaya station in 1985 and at the Bellingshausen station in 1987. All Russian stations in Antarctica were connected to satellite communication network within four years. Before that, it was possible to communicate with Moscow only from the chief radio center of the Mirny observatory.