China sends biggest Antarctic fleet to build research station

With over 460 people on board, two Chinese icebreaker research ships and a cargo ship sailed for the Antarctic on Wednesday in order to assist in the completion of China’s fifth station construction on the world’s southernmost continent. The construction of the station on the rocky, windswept Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea—a deep Southern Ocean bay named for a 19th-century British explorer—will be the primary objective of China’s largest flotilla of research vessels deployed to the Antarctic. In 2018, construction on the Pacific sector’s first Chinese station got underway. According to state television, it will be utilised to carry out environmental research in the area. From 1985 to 2014, China constructed four research stations in the Antarctic. According to a U.S.-based think tank, the fifth might be completed by next year. According to a report released this year by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the facility is anticipated to include an observatory with a satellite ground station and should help China “fill in a major gap” in its ability to access the continent. According to the statement, the station is also in a good location to gather telemetry data on rockets launched from Australia’s new Arnhem Space Centre as well as signals intelligence over Australia and New Zealand. China disputes claims that espionage would take place on its stations. Xuelong 1 and Xuelong 2, which translate to “Snow Dragon” in Mandarin, were the two icebreakers that set out from Shanghai with mostly personnel and logistics supplies on board. The “Tianhui,” or “Divine Blessings,” cargo ship sailed from Zhangjiagang’s eastern port, carrying construction supplies for the station. One of the five-month mission’s objectives will be to conduct a climate change impact survey. In addition, the two icebreakers will survey the surrounding waters in Prydez Bay, the southeast Antarctic’s Astronaut Sea, and the west’s Ross and Amundsen Seas. According to state media, China’s 40th Antarctic expedition will collaborate on logistics supply with nations like the US, UK, and Russia. (With agency inputs)