Antarctic

Some look at the sea as a relaxing playground, a place for champagne and caviar sunsets and midday PWC frolics. Others will happily give up those tropical comforts to circle the choppy, sea ice-laced waters around Antarctica on the all-new Ocea Nemo 50 ICE megayacht.

A dramatic demonstration of sustainable technology starts in Antarctica next month as a father and son team set out to walk to the South Pole using only renewable energy sources.

Boaty McBoatface, arguably the most famous scientific submersible in the world, has returned to port triumphant after completing its first Antarctic mission. During the expedition, the submarine tested its operational capabilities while gathering valuable scientific data at extreme depths.

The Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft (SULSA) bears the distinction of being the world's first aircraft to have an entirely 3D-printed body. While it's an impressive title, the little electric airplane has now been put to use scouting routes for an icebreaker in Antarctica.​

Each year, the US military set outs on a resupply mission to McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's Antarctic research center. But this year it has received a helping hand, by way of an unmanned drone that flies out ahead of its icebreaking ship to scout the safest path forward.

Antarctic scientists have made big gains in our knowledge of Antarctic sea ice thanks to an autonomous underwater vehicle that produced high-resolution 3D maps beneath previously-inaccessible ice floes. The new data suggests the ice may be thicker and more deformed than previously thought.

Robotic ocean gliders were recently deployed in the coastal waters off Antarctica to help study why warm water, a major contributing factor to melting sheet ice, is appearing there. The gliders have no propeller, and are instead given motion by a battery-powered pump that changes their buoyancy.

Next January, a squadron of disabled British servicemembers is scheduled to fly to the South Pole in up to five open-cockpit microlights to show what severely disabled people can achieve and inspire others to seek rehabilitation.

On Friday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne announced that the British government had authorized the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to go ahead with the design and construction of a new state-of-the-art vessel for polar research

Shortly before Christmas, we heard about 35 year-old British adventurer Maria Leijerstam's planned attempt to ride to the South Pole on a recumbent fat-tired tricycle. On December 27th, she achieved that goal.

Bharathi is India's third permanent base in Antarctica, and was constructed using 134 prefabricated shipping containers shipped from Germany.

China's Polar Rover is claimed to be the first wind-powered autonomous vehicle used for research in Antarctica.