Canceled because of COVID.
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Our Ice capable tanker HMNZS Aotearoa is completing fitting out now, she also carries 22 20’ containers. McMurdo station is about 5 K from Scott Base. NZ and the US work together on supply. I’m not sure when the Aussie Icebreaker will come into service.
Mid-2021. The Australians have chartered an ice-strengthened interim vessel for this season.
I was on DF 80 on the Glacier. We had a tradition of running from McMurdo to Scott base, drinking a bit there and running back. Great fun. Great Lion Brown.
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Antarctica is a fantastic place that it was a privilege to visit. Regarding the beverage that you supped- we had a politician of the same name but slightly different spelling.
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The reason the Polar Star is going North is because of the Healy’s engineering problems. Healy’s main purpose is to conduct scientific studies. She is classed as a medium ice breaker. and when she was designed berthing & labs were the most important aspect for the scientists aboard. A tremendous amount of operational funding is provided by NOAA, National science foundation and others.
Knowing Polar Star’s questionable reliability, I wonder if (how much) the definite lack of self-rescue capability following Healy’s fire played a role in the decision to cancel this season’s resupply mission. While the heavy icebreaker has been sent down south alone, there has always been a US-flagged fallback in the northern hemisphere. With Healy now out of the equation, Polar Star’s mission-ending casualty could mean the USCG would have to cough up some dough to get something like Oden to leave its home waters during the winter season while simultaneously trying to prevent the Russians gaining a PR victory by diverting Kapitan Dranitsyn to help or calling in another icebreaker from the north.