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A thin black line against a sea of white is all that connects Antarctica ’s Concordia research station to living .
This seam , becharm in a sobering artificial satellite image , is a convoy of heavy - duty tractors pulling tons of fuel , food and equipment to one ofthe most isolated places on Earth . According to theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) , France ’s Pleiades satellite captured this view of the convoy from orbit at 435 miles ( 700 kilometer ) above the icy surface .
A French satellite captured this shot of a resupply convoy headed to Earth’s remotest research station, Concordia in Antarctica.
Concordia research station is know as the " remotest infrastructure on Earth . " It ’s so far from other humans — 372 miles ( 600 km ) from the close base , Vostok in Russia — that it ’s more remote than theInternational Space Station , according to the ESA . ( The ISS orbit at an ALT of between 205 and 270 miles , or 330 to 435 km . )
The station is situate on the Antarctic Plateau at an elevation of 10,499 feet ( 3,200 metre ) . Despite the blow and frappe , Antarcticais the largest desert on the major planet , and the atmosphere at Concordia is extremely dry . It ’s also highly cold : The annual intermediate temperature is minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit ( minus 50 degrees Celsisu ) , according to the ESA , and David Low can dunk to minus 112 degrees F ( minus 80 degrees C ) . [ Images : sprightliness at Concordia Research Station ]
It takes 10 twenty-four hours for a convoy like this to go from Dumont d’Urville on the sea-coast to Concordia , allot to the outer space agency . After three sidereal day of unpacking as much as 330 U.S. tons ( 300 metric tons ) of supplies , the convoy return to the coast , a trip that takes about eight Clarence Day , travel quicker as they descend the tableland .
A closer look at part of the convoy in Antarctica, as seen by France’s Pleiades satellite.
enquiry at Concordia station depend on the closing off find there . The ESA ship gang to study the consequence of isolation , centripetal deprivation and closelipped quarters on human psychology , mime the effects oflong - distance space travel .
Getting supplies to the floor is no picnic , either . It ’s an 807 - mile - long ( 1,300 km ) journey from the slide to Concordia . ESA author Didier Schmitt described look at part in this convoy run on the ESA internet site . With only a few hour ' practice driving a 24 - net ton ( 22 metric gross ton ) tractor , Schmitt join the most recent convoy to the foundation .
" During the first blizzard , I felt what it is to work in such extreme conditions,“Schmitt wrote . He called the experience a " slow - movement Mad Max adventure . "
Original article onLive Science .
