Beacons

An example of a specially developed piece of technology is the so-called XMARX beacon. This ultra lightweight weather station is about 25% of the weight of a standard beacon or buoy. Standard scientific programs have access to comprehensive logistical support, making it less critical to pay attention to weight when deploying the beacons. How can you save weight and also keep the functionality that regular beacons have?

The beacon holds a temperature sensor combined with a barometric pressure sensor, radiation shield, a small satellite transmitter, a GPS unit, batteries and some electronics to switch the beacon on and off at standard intervals. You can save weight by developing a system that runs on lower voltage, thus saving batteries.

You can miniaturize the components, based on the latest technology. And you can reduce the housing weight by using composites. You can imagine that if you are working on all these fronts to reduce the weight to 5 kilograms per unit, you are actually composing a new kind of instrument which needs thorough testing in polar conditions.

The German company Denkmanufaktur is leading this development. A first prototype will be put to the test on the Arctic Ocean in April 2004. This new beacon opens up a very interesting perspective. Polar travellers can handle the weight and it is easy to deploy. Just remove a magnet from the tube and the beacon starts itself up… Imagine that more and more expeditions and polar travellers will get access to these beacons. That will improve density and continuity of the readings without additional logistical operations in the arctic.

Energy

The expedition is very dependent on smart energy management. Especially when all of the communication and video equipment needed for sharing this adventure uses quite a bit of energy. The expedition is testing a new generation of solar panels, which are flexible and perform well even under overcast skies. A constant source of energy would make life easier on the technology side.

Communication technology

The days when expeditions were cut off from the outside world for a long time before returning to civilization and being able to report to the public are now behind us. Modern communication technology will enable this expedition to relay information from the North Pole to anywhere around the globe in mere seconds. Near real-time communication stimulates involvement from the audience. Proven technology will be used to report live from the ice and interact with people who follow the expedition.

Reports will consist of voice, text, pictures, or compressed video files. All reports will be managed and published from one central database to different media. This database will also contain unique multi-media fragments related to the topics and backgrounds of this expedition. Attractive and accessible information maximizes the educational potential of the project.

This unique adventure can be witnessed as the expedition files dispatch daily to this website and to media around the world. The expedition team will also document its own journey across the Arctic Ocean for a television production and publication of a book.