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The technical design team, composed of more than 30 Sandians, worked for 10 months to meet the objectives of the project. The team built two systems, one serving as a backup. “Being that far away, it was good to have a complete spare in your back pocket,” says Sander.
The Air Guard uses the LC-130 aircraft, which has special landing gear, to operate off the snow and ice at McMurdo Station, Antarctica’s largest community. McMurdo is built on the bare volcanic rock of Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island, the farthest south that solid ground is accessible by ship. Established in 1956, McMurdo has grown from an outpost of a few buildings to more than 100 structures, including a harbor, an outlying airport with landing strips on sea ice and shelf ice, and a helicopter pad. There are above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines linking buildings. During the winter 200 to 400 people work at McMurdo, with the population swelling to 1,500 in the summer.
Before arriving at McMurdo, the researchers underwent numerous and extensive physical and dental exams. Each team member had a backup who also went through the rigorous exams as if they were going. At Christchurch, New Zealand, they were fitted for extreme cold-weather gear, and upon arrival at McMurdo they participated in a two-day boot camp where they learned various safety and survival techniques.
The crew collected data in several locations. “First we mapped McMurdo, Scott Base, and the nearby pressure ridge. Then we flew to the Pegasus wreck site, where our corner reflector array and junk pile were located,” says Jeff Bach, who served as test planner, motion measurement operator while flying on the aircraft, morale officer, and snow shovel operator. Data were sent from the detection radar to an office at McMurdo, where Doug Bickel served as onground support analyst.
Bickel then pieced together the data to create coherent maps of the surveyed areas. “Piecing the data together using software was a difficult task,” Bickel says. “But the software was able to receive high volumes of data.”
On one day the researchers conducted two flights, mapping two 5-by-5-nautical-mile areas. A 5-by-5-mile area was a goal set by the Guard to find a suitable spot to land in the vicinity of a remote camp.