At the beginning of February 2022, two professionals traveled to the Belgrano II Base to carry out a soil study and advance, in the next campaigns, with the anchoring of the structures that will serve as a base for the antennas..They seek to minimize the environmental impact and optimize available resources.

With a soil study carried out in the current 2021/2022 Antarctic Summer Campaign, the National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) advanced in the first steps to install two parabolic reflector antenna systems at the Belgrano II Joint Antarctic Base, which will provide Tracking, Telemetry and Telecommand (TT&C) services and science data download from satellite missions.."We seek to contribute by expanding existing knowledge regarding the different particular characteristics of the Nunatak Bertrab, which is the rocky outcrop on which the Belgrano II Base is located and on which it will be necessary to anchor two 3-meter-high metal superstructures, designed to measure of the project, which will serve as support for the antennas and their corresponding rigid radomes,” explained Gustavo Rébola, Head of the CONAE Ground Stations Unit, Rébola already visited the site in the 2019/2020 campaign to evaluate its characteristics and determine if. met the necessary technical conditions to advance the project..After carrying out this survey, an environmental impact study was carried out and the technical conditions that the metal superstructures should contemplate were determined..To advance these studies, on January 12, two Argentine professionals from the areas of civil engineering and geotechnics left for Antarctica aboard the Argentine icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar..After arriving at the Belgrano II Joint Base on February 1, they dedicated themselves for six days to carrying out a geotechnical study, exposed to extreme meteorological factors, with very limited times..For this study, drilling up to 2 meters deep was planned in the precise location where the antennas will be installed, as well as different tests and execution of anchors to measure the resistance of the rock and the electrical resistivity of the ground..Unlike traditional anchoring methods, which use a concrete block, the objective of CONAE is to fix the structures that will support the antennas directly on the rock..“This study will provide the soil resistivity information as well as the information necessary to evaluate alternative fixing methods..The aim is to optimize the use of resources and materials and, consequently, simplify on-site tasks with the benefit of a lower environmental impact, among others," said Rébola..The technical report resulting from these works will be incorporated into the tender that is expected to be relaunched during 2022 to build the bases during the next 2022-23 Antarctic Summer Campaign, on which the antennas would be installed later..New capabilities in Antarctica The installation of the two antenna systems at the Joint Antarctic Base Belgrano II will be possible thanks to an agreement reached between CONAE, the Secretariat of Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic (SEMAS) and the Joint Antarctic Command (COCOANTAR). ), With parabolic reflectors of 6.1 meters in diameter and operating capabilities in S and (ETTdF)..They will receive information from different low-orbit Earth observation satellites and, in particular, will provide support to the SAOCOM Mission..“CONAE already has a presence in Antarctica, at the Marambio Base, with a 2.1 meter antenna, where satellite data is downloaded that is mostly used by the National Meteorological Service and is shared with the World Meteorological Organization..Now the objective is to have two other antennas that, in addition to the possibility of downloading science data, provide TT&C services to their own satellite missions or those of other space agencies that maintain agreements with CONAE, as well as could provide support to the area of Access to Space or the different stages of the SABIA-Mar mission, if necessary,” Rébola explained..Belgrano II is the closest Argentine base to the South Pole (located almost -80 degrees south latitude) and the third southernmost of the permanent bases worldwide..These characteristics make it especially useful for monitoring polar orbit satellites, such as those in the SAOCOM Constellation..“The closer we place the antennas to the South Pole, the more times we can observe our satellites per day..For example, SAOCOM 1A and 1B circle the planet about 15 times per day, of which from the Córdoba Earth Station we can see them 4 times, in Tierra del Fuego, on the other hand, we can see them 7 times and, in Belgrano II "We would see them 15 times," he reported..Source: Argentina.gob.ar.