By the end of this year the Belarusian scientists involved in the project will determine the location of the station, academician, professor, director of the Institute for natural resources and ecology of the National Academy of Sciences Vladimir Loginov told a meeting of Belarusian polar explorers. He said the station would have state-of-the-art equipment that is being developed now. People proved more than 50 years ago that Antarctica was not uninhabitable. Certain countries are having real fights for dividing the “piece of ice”, but international conventions disallow ownership of the independent continent. At the same time, there have been incidents when children were born in Antarctica and the “Place of Birth” line was filled like this: “Antarctica”. There are many good reasons to become an owner of the mysterious continent: Antarctica has immense natural resources and great climatic conditions to test machinery and even weaponry. Twenty-eight countries of the 45 states that are parties to the Antarctica Treaty have stations on the sixth continent. Belarus considers becoming a party to the treaty, too. (In order to form a legal framework for the activities of nations on the continent, an Antarctic Treaty was negotiated that neither denies nor gives recognition to existing territorial claims; signed in 1959, it entered into force in 1961).By the way, it was Belarusian Vladimir Karpyuk that registered the lowest temperature in the world, minus 89.2 Celsius, at the station “Vostok” back in 1983, and in 1989 another Belarusian, Aleksei Gaidashov, registered the strongest wind in the world, 78 meters per second. It happened at the “Leningradskaya” station.
All Belarusian polar explorers gathered together for the first time ever not long ago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of regular polar expeditions to Antarctica.
— We remember those cold days we worked on that continent with particular warmth, said the honorary polar explorer of the USSR, Yury Yemelyanov, who took part in three polar expeditions.
Harsh weather conditions, hard labor and long months without families have united these strong people of different ages, hobbies and professions.
Who are these people? Weathermen, scientists, aviators and businessmen who are in love with Antarctica. This is what they call passion, for those who were in the sixth continent once will always wish to return there.
