China's 40th Antarctic Expedition, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, set sail on Wednesday. Unlike previous inspections, this inspection mission was supported for the first time by three ships, one of which departed from Zhangjiagang city, Jiangsu province. Let’s take a close look.
At 9:48 am, the 36000-ton ice class ship "Tianhui" at the No. 2 berth of Zhangjiagang Port was slowly leaving the dock, preparing to go to sea and join the "Xuelong" and "Xuelong 2" polar scientific research vessels to embark on China's 40th Antarctic exploration mission.
Departing from China on November 1st, the 40th Chinese Antarctic Expedition Team will return in April 2024. In addition to conducting observation and research on Antarctic biological ecology, the expedition team will build China's fifth Antarctic exploration station - the Ross Sea New Station.
SS Tianhui cargo ship will be responsible for the transportation of materials for the construction of the new scientific research station.
“SS Tianhui carried over 30000 cubic meters of materials for the construction of the expedition station. We will depart at the same time as the "Snow Dragon" and "Snow Dragon 2" from two locations, and plan to meet in Lyttleton, New Zealand in 20 days. We plan to arrive at the new expedition station before December 10th,” said Zhou Renxiao, Assistant Leader of China's 40th Antarctic Expedition Team.
The new station is the third year-round scientific research station after the Great Wall and Zhongshan stations, and also the first exploration station facing the Pacific sector. It will carry out multi-sphere and multidisciplinary observation and research work on atmospheric environment, marine basic environment, biological ecology, and some other aspects.
