What If NASA Explored Antarctica Instead? | Unveiled

What if NASA Explored Antarctica Instead?

Few scientific endeavours are more exciting than exploring space. Are we alone in the universe? Does life exist on Mars? Could we ever leave the solar system? But, still, there’s a whole world down here on Earth that’s yet to be discovered. So much about our planet’s polar regions, for example, remains unknown. So, what would happen if our leading space agency turned its attention to them?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; What if NASA explored Antarctica instead?

Now, of course, NASA does have various, ongoing projects in Antarctica. Let’s just make that clear from the beginning. From specific research missions to dedicated astronaut training camps, the world’s southernmost continent does already play host to some NASA work. For this video, though, we’re imagining more. We’re contemplating what NASA could achieve if its primary focus wasn’t the exploration of space and different planets… but it was instead chiefly interested in the snow and ice and sparkling landscapes of Antarctica.

In terms of what’s there already for the US, there’s Palmer Station, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and McMurdo Station. Taking Palmer as an example, it’s primary focus is on marine biology and marine ecosystems, with other initiatives set up to study geology, seismology, and the atmosphere. In short, it seeks to better understand this vast world at the bottom of the globe, including the creatures and organisms that live there, while also trying to make sense of the climatological challenges that the entire planet faces. But Palmer Station has only scratched the surface (of the surface) of true Antarctic exploration. It’s located on the outermost edge of Antarctica, and usually houses around forty people, only. There are multiple labs, and there’s a research boat to better analyse the surrounding waters. But its scope is still limited.

McMurdo is a far bigger prospect, with the potential to house more than 1,000 researchers at any one time. Again, it’s found on the Antarctic edge, this time at Ross Island. The South Pole Station, meanwhile, is unsurprisingly found at the south pole… with up 200 people working there. These three facilities stand as though beacons, or checkpoints, on this almost entirely deserted continent. The work that goes on there is undoubtedly crucial, but it never receives the budget and rarely receives the plaudits that US efforts in space do.

Currently, NASA’s Perseverance rover is ardently searching for signs of life on Mars. And scouring our nearest neighbour for any hints that it could one day host a human colony. It’s the Agency’s fifth rover on the Red Planet, but really it’s just one of an army of machines that NASA has managed to successfully launch out into the solar system - including the Juno orbiter to Jupiter, the Parker Solar Probe to the sun, and the Voyagers (both of which have now broken into interstellar space). There’s no doubt that all these missions have an immense value, too, and thanks to them we’ve grown to understand the details of our star system more in the past fifty years than we had in the previous 500. But consider that while NASA was founded in 1958, the US Antarctic Program - which maintains the three stations mentioned before - was founded just one year later, in 1959. Clearly, while NASA has soared, the Antarctic Program has somewhat flown under the radar.

All of which means that today, still, only small regions of Antarctica have been properly explored. Much of it has been mapped from afar, in a similar way to how Mars and the moon have been… although the British Antarctic Survey still describes Antarctica on its website as being “among the most poorly mapped places on Earth”. There’s still so much about this frozen wilderness much closer to home that we simply don’t understand, then, all while we have rovers and orbiters constantly updating our knowledge of space.

Some have compared the mystery of Antarctica to our lack of action with the oceans. It’s widely said that more than eighty percent of the world’s oceans remain unexplored, and that at this stage we do know more about what happens on the moon than on the seabed. But, one counterargument is why study Antarctica, at all? Surely expanding outwards, away from Earth, is better than peering inwards, into its heart?

But the relatively little Antarctic study that does take place is already helping scientists to understand other aspects of our world. For example, the ice levels, the temperatures, and the shifting landscapes all help to paint a picture of how climate change is shaping up. By analysing the water, researchers can better understand regional and global patterns across all of Earth’s seas and oceans. The world’s weather can be studied in Antarctica, and there’s a crystal-clear view of the stars.

One notable development came in 2019, when a break in the polar ice shelf led to the exposure of a previously unknown Antarctic ecosystem on a never-before-accessed part of the seafloor below. This ecosystem had until then been trapped under miles-thick layers of ice for thousands of years… so everything within it had adapted to learn how to live in extreme conditions with essentially zero sunlight. Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute headed to the site to conduct further tests… but the global fanfare was limited.

Similarly, in 2021, news quietly broke of the Wegener Institute again heading to a recently exposed section of the Antarctic Sea, from which the team returned with images of various creatures such as sea cucumbers and anemones. Really, these should have been major news stories. They were rare and unique discoveries, and they can ultimately help with humanity’s quest to understand space. Hidden, Antarctic ecosystems like these so closely resemble conditions found in the void of space, and on other planets and moons. So, while we’re continually trying to work out how we might survive there, it might be better for us to head to Antarctica first… where it’s already happening.

A study made public in February 2021 offered even more insight, when a group of geologists ran tests on the seafloor under the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. While the geologists had expected to find only mud and minerals to analyse from these exceptionally dark depths, they were surprised to discover that life was seemingly thriving there. Non-moving creatures, thought to be some kind of species of sponge, were captured on camera, seen by human eyes for what surely must have been the first time ever.

The question now is, how many more unknown creatures could be down there? And how many more secrets are waiting to be revealed? The Filchner-Ronne ice shelf, where these probable sponges were found, has an area of more than 160,000 square miles, but only a few thousand square feet of it has been explored in depth, and in detail. Would that remain the case if NASA were to turn its attention to Antarctica? Not likely!

The proposed budget for NASA in the year 2022 is 24.8 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the US plunges just a few hundred million dollars into Antarctic missions. We can say, then, that if NASA explored Antarctica instead, we’d have up to fifty times as much money to spend on it. The discovery of never-before-seen creatures in ultra-rare environments would be so much more expected. And, because some parts of Antarctica so closely resemble what we predict the conditions on, say, Mars or Europa could be like, we’d be so much more prepared for the solar system as a whole.

Finally, though, there are already the seeds of hope and ambition growing on Antarctica. And this time literally. NASA has in the past collaborated on the EDEN ISS project, which is a state-of-the-art facility at the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Neumayer-Station III. The EDEN ISS is essentially an Antarctic greenhouse, and a place where scientists can experiment with growing plants and vegetables under extreme weather conditions, and in an extremely enclosed space. In the future, then, its hoped that this particular Antarctic outpost will help us develop the skills needed to grow food on the moon, and on the journey to Mars.

Ultimately, there are so many crossovers between our space exploration goals and getting to grips with Antarctica, that it would likely benefit NASA if it did redirect at least part of its budget to the icy plains below. But, if the Agency were to simply switch focusses entirely, then we could quickly learn an immense amount about how our planet works. And we could finally solve some of the many mysteries that Antarctica continues to hold.

As recent studies have proven, there is genuinely new life to be discovered here. There are truly untouched and immaculately preserved environments to investigate. And there’s certainly a new frontier to explore. And that’s what NASA could achieve if it explored Antarctica instead.