AN Opportunity
The Earth is facing the biggest problem in centuries: climate change. To fight climate change, we have to understand it. However, understanding it means obtaining information in places where nature is pristine, as well as places where the consequences of global warming can be observed first-hand. These places are found in extremely cold, harsh environments like the North Pole, Antarctica, and the oldest glaciers. At the moment, research is done often inefficiently, very expensive and unsustainable. Alternatives are not yet present.
© ESA/IPEV/PNRA-E. Macdonald-Nethercott
OUR Ambition
How do we make research more efficient in practice? The concrete aspects which make research inefficient are human involvement when obtaining the data and the fact that research infrastructure is powered by fossil fuels. To solve these problems research equipment needs to be made sustainable, autonomous, and affordable, in that order.
Sustainable
Making research equipment functional on sustainable energy like wind, solar, or hydrogen ensures that it's not limited in range. For example, a vehicle on Antarctica does not need to return to a research station to refuel since it will obtain all its power from the Sun while driving. This allows research to be performed in areas where it previously was not possible.
© Komkrit Noenpoempisut
Autonomous
Autonomous control ensures that no human needs to operate the equipment on-site. Not only does this remove the need to keep the vehicle warm and transport all of the human necessities for survival, it also allows the vehicle to move nonstop; its operating range is limitless. Autonomy also ensures the safety of researchers, who may operate the vehicle at a distance if necessary.
© Adrien Coquet
Affordable
For new technologies to be competitive, they must not break the bank. It turns out that by eliminating the reliance on fossil fuels and removing the human operator, enourmous costs can be saved when traversing the Antarctic continent. Not only this, but the mapping cababilites of the vehicle will save researchers (and thereby taxpayers) the tremendous costs of finding a safe route.
© Creative Mahira
The Team
Team Polar is an Innovation Space student team at the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e). We are seventeen motivated students from eight different faculties working towards making research on Antarctica more sustainable. We believe that by combining technical innovation with an understanding of real-world problems we can make our goals a reality. It is our conviction that cooperation is essential and we invite everyone interesed in joining us in our journey to reach out to us.
