a bulldozer won’t start a cranes not
working either routine mishaps that
could happen anywhere in the world but
this isn’t just anywhere it’s the middle
of Antarctica where a team of mega
builders is taking on the seemingly
impossible
in this frozen wasteland they are
constructing a 160,000 square foot
hi-tech science facility if the builders
succeed it will be one of the most
advanced research centers on earth but
they are up against staggering odds
hundreds of workers have to survive the
frigid temperatures of the Antarctic
over 25 million pounds of construction
materials must arrive by air and they
can work outdoors for just 110 days per
year during the Antarctic summer all
exterior work must stop for the
pitch-black months long and Arctic
winter
this massive project is the brainchild
of the NSF the US government’s National
Science Foundation planning and
construction has been underway for more
than a decade but this is to be the
final season to erect the structure
builders have just over 100 days to
complete three remaining wings then
before the station can be occupied every
element must pass a rigorous inspection
and prove it meets all US building and
safety codes a group of NSF inspectors
is due in just over three months and the
construction team is determined to be
ready if they fail the new wings can’t
be occupied and the station will have to
wait till next summer to be completed
put it in the project a year or even
more behind schedule for NSF project
manager Jerry Marty and the contractors
construction chief Carlton Walker the
pressure is on at the moment just one
task matters getting the bulldozer and
crane moving pronto these machines
aren’t broken they’re frozen but with a
normal Antarctic summer day hovering
around 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit
this is one problem they’ve seen before
the stalled crane is a major setback
stopping construction on a job site
unlike any other the altitude is nearly
ten thousand feet the nearest city is
almost a thousand miles away and the
steel superstructure is surrounded by
5.5 million square miles of nothing but
ice and snow
so why build here in the first place for
scientists the answer is obvious the
South Poles unique environment offers
incredible opportunities not found
anywhere else on earth
working either routine mishaps that
could happen anywhere in the world but
this isn’t just anywhere it’s the middle
of Antarctica where a team of mega
builders is taking on the seemingly
impossible
in this frozen wasteland they are
constructing a 160,000 square foot
hi-tech science facility if the builders
succeed it will be one of the most
advanced research centers on earth but
they are up against staggering odds
hundreds of workers have to survive the
frigid temperatures of the Antarctic
over 25 million pounds of construction
materials must arrive by air and they
can work outdoors for just 110 days per
year during the Antarctic summer all
exterior work must stop for the
pitch-black months long and Arctic
winter
this massive project is the brainchild
of the NSF the US government’s National
Science Foundation planning and
construction has been underway for more
than a decade but this is to be the
final season to erect the structure
builders have just over 100 days to
complete three remaining wings then
before the station can be occupied every
element must pass a rigorous inspection
and prove it meets all US building and
safety codes a group of NSF inspectors
is due in just over three months and the
construction team is determined to be
ready if they fail the new wings can’t
be occupied and the station will have to
wait till next summer to be completed
put it in the project a year or even
more behind schedule for NSF project
manager Jerry Marty and the contractors
construction chief Carlton Walker the
pressure is on at the moment just one
task matters getting the bulldozer and
crane moving pronto these machines
aren’t broken they’re frozen but with a
normal Antarctic summer day hovering
around 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit
this is one problem they’ve seen before
the stalled crane is a major setback
stopping construction on a job site
unlike any other the altitude is nearly
ten thousand feet the nearest city is
almost a thousand miles away and the
steel superstructure is surrounded by
5.5 million square miles of nothing but
ice and snow
so why build here in the first place for
scientists the answer is obvious the
South Poles unique environment offers
incredible opportunities not found
anywhere else on earth
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