Russia joins 11th Belarusian Antarctic expedition

Belarusian Antarctic Station  67° 39’ 30” South, 46° 09’ 12” East,  Mount Vechernyaya,  Enderby Land,  East Antarctica.(WAP BLR-NEW)

The Republic of Belarus joined the Antarctic Treaty in 2006 and, in that same year, approved the national program for Polar research which is called “Monitoring of Earth’s Polar areas and ensuring activity of the Arctic and Antarctic expeditions for 2007­­-­2010 and for the period until 2015”. Soon after, in 2008, it ratified the Environmental Protocol.

In 2015, the national Antarctic program of the Republic of Belarus was accepted as the 30th Member of COMNAP. From December 2015 through January 2016, the first portion of the national research station, a three-section module for control, communication and navigation, was assembled in Antarctica.                 Watch a video here

Belarus and Russia are building strategic partnership in Antarctica:  Belarusian and Russian polar explorers will carry out a joint research project during the 11th Belarusian Antarctic Expedition in 2018-2019, Alexander Klepikov, head of the Russian Antarctic expedition, Deputy Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, said at a meeting with senior officials of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) on last 8 August, BelTA learned from the NASB press service.

Let’s hope that,  at the Belarus Base someone can operate HF on the Ham bands to give Radioamateurs  all over the world, a chance to work a New Base down in Antarctica!