Dutch students bring Antarctic Rover to South Pole in climate study

Two students from TU Eindhoven will travel from Chile to Antarctica on Tuesday to develop the Antarctica Rover. The vehicle will assist in a climate study on making the South Pole more sustainable, affordable and easy to reach. The rover will operate with solar energy and was inspired by the Mars Rover.

The Eindhoven students will participate in an expedition with a French research ship and gather data to support the development of solar panels. "The intensity of the sun is extremely low, as is the temperature. Solar panels and batteries tend to perform poorly in these conditions, so we are looking for ways to make the system more weather-resistant," manager of the student research team, Ewout Hulscher said.

The students also want to measure humidity, air pressure and temperatures. Their research mission will last two weeks before the students return to the Netherlands around January 10.

In total, 17 students from the TU Eindhoven were involved in the project. Team Polar, which developed and built the vehicle, wants to have the first prototype ready next year. Polar research contributes to knowledge about climate change, but also emits many greenhouse gases. Team Polar intends to lower emissions by developing clean energy alternatives. "We believe that mankind should damage the last unexplored continent as little as possible. It's a big challenge, but we want to help," technical manager Oscar Mannens said.