Russia launches new Arctic mission
The Russian marine research vessel “Akademik Fyodorov” will this week head off to the Arctic with equipment for a new drifting North Pole station.
The vessel will carry 64 researchers and 11 crew members, two helicopters, as well as more than 570 tons of equipment. The ship will on 18 August head east towards the Vilkitski straits and further to the island of Wragel, where 150 tons of equipment for a new research station will be unloaded. The ”Akademik Fyodorov” also carries 420 tons of equipment for this year’s drifting North Pole station. The “North Pole -36” is planned to start on an ice floe on 10 September and last until next summer. A group of 18 researchers, under the leadership of the experienced explorer Katarev, will man the station, Regnum reports. The ”Akademik Fyodorov” is expected to arrive in Murmansk on 24 September. Russian researchers have long experience within Arctic research. Only last month, the “North Pole – 35” ended dramatically when the ice floe on which the station was based dissolved north of Spitsbergen.
