The Tara Polar Station, a state-of-the-art vessel designed to drift with the Arctic ice and serve as a mobile research hub. Discover how this groundbreaking project, with its innovative oval hull and modular laboratories, aims to provide unprecedented insights into climate science and marine biology.
source.image: The Impossible Build
Tara Polar Station is designed to be installed on the Arctic ice floe and accommodate a scientific team of up to twenty people. Its characteristics are very different from a classic boat, without hydrodynamic constraints even if it has its own propulsion capacity. Its hull forms an oval seen from above, 26 meters long by 14 meters wide, with a very rounded profile.
It is topped with a living space in the shape of a polyhedral dome , all designed by the French architect Olivier Petit according to the specifications of the Tara Ocean foundation. It must withstand temperatures of -52 °C and its aluminum hull makes it better resistant to polar temperatures, unlike steel which loses its flexibility and becomes brittle in extreme cold.
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It has 400 m2 of living space including six laboratories. It will be equipped with two drones including an underwater drone , a sampling rosette and atmospheric or underwater sensors that will continuously observe the surrounding environment. In winter, the building , completely insulated, will accommodate twelve people, each with an individual cabin, six crew members and six scientists. In summer, the ship will be able to accommodate up to 20 people, thanks to rotations and refueling.
