The Polar POD
The overriding question
The question was: what type of ship can provide a safe and comfortable work environment in the « furious fifties » throughout the year?
To escape the hustle and bustle of the waves one needs a ship with a strong draft, caught in deep stable waters, and a small surface at the impact of the waves.
The Polar POD is inspired by FLIP, the US oceanographic platform, still active after 60 years at the service of research.
On the same principle, the Polar POD will be towed horizontally to the research zone and tilted vertically by filling ballast tanks with seawater.
Technical specifications of the POLAR POD
This rig, which is 330 ft high and weighs 1,000 tons, is sized to tackle the biggest waves in the world.
The legs of the lattice are made of steel from 1.5" to 2" thick. Bottom ballast weighs 150 tons.
The structure of the gondola is made of aluminum and the outer shell made of a special steel to handle the most violent storms. The construction is certified by Bureau Veritas.
Zero emission
The Polar POD is an environmentally friendly vessel. Driven by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, it will have an extremely limited impact on the environment.
The gondola located 15m above the surface is equipped to accommodate 8 people with 6 months of autonomy.
It is considered a "Positive energy" habitat thanks to the performance of thermal insulation. To supply scientific equipment, lighting, telecommunications, IT, seawater desalination, hot water and cooking, electricity will be produced by 6 Kingspan 3.2 kW wind turbines and photovoltaic cells.
It is stored in two lithium-ion battery packs of 50 kWh each. The Polar POD is a "zero emission vessel".
Very stable at sea
The Polar POD is much more stable and comfortable than a traditional ship.
With a draft of 75 meters, this “vertical vessel” is very stable: 5 ° heel in the mean weather of the Southern Ocean and a vertical movement that does not exceed 10% of the height of the waves.
The architecture is designed not to resonate with the swell.
Its period of heaving, from bottom to top, is 60 seconds while the swell of the great South is close to 20 seconds.
ONU has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Polar POD replies to 9 of those goals
Wildlife Inventory. Fisherie Management
Research on active molecules in human health
Education through sharing the expedition in real time
First Zero Emission Oceanographic Vessel
Design of a “vertical ship” to study a hard-to-reach ocean
Study of the planet’s main ocean carbon sink
Contribution to the establishment of a marine protected area in Antarctica
Worldwide free access to data collected by Polar Pod
40 partner companies and 43 scientific institutions from 12 countries to explore an unknown ocean
Support the project with a donation
The Polar POD expedition is one of the stamp of the pioners, a human adventure coupled with a technological challenge, an oceanographic exploration never before carried out which will mark a milestone in the discovery of the oceans.
Thank you for your support !