Back to the Future? The Command Module Flies Again?

In article ,
McLean1382 wrote:
For most of the history of Antarctic exploration, an expedition a year would
have been considered a frantic pace.

One reason for that was that as long as transport to Antarctica was by
ship, there were "launch window" issues. The sea ice around Antarctica
opens up enough for shipping only in late summer.

That means that by the time you get there, it is too late in the year to
start anything major. You have to winter over and start in spring. Both
Amundsen and Scott did exactly that.

Then, if you are quick -- Amundsen was -- you may be done before that
year's shipping season ends. If you run late, you get to winter over in
Antarctica again, and leave the *next* summer. Scott's expedition stayed
over because they wanted to find out what had happened to the pole party,
but also because by the time it was certain that something had gone badly
wrong, it was too late to leave.

And to cap it off, the shipping season isn't long enough to get back to
civilization, rest and re-equip, and return to Antarctica that year. So
even if your major field activities can reliably wrap up by late summer,
you're inherently on a two-year operations cycle.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |