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Tomorrow Today | A new European polar research vessel

884 views · Published 7 September 2009 · 3:57 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: DW News · 2009 · Science & Technology

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Polar researchers in Europe are planning a new vessel that will be able to overcome thick sea ice and stormy seas. Designed under the auspices of the Alfred Wegener Institute,the Aurora Borealis may be the world's strongest icebreaker,a research ship which will be able to drill 1,000 meters into the ocean floor. The ship is due to be completed in 2014. The Aurora Borealis will be an icebreaker,research ship and deep-sea drilling platform in one. It's designed to take sediment samples from the polar seabed - even in thick drift ice. Designing the icebreaker was a challenge for the engineers. It's new kind of boat - and innovations had to be made,from the hull up. 
A model about seven meters long is being used to see if the design is seaworthy. The first tests show that at slow speed,the boat can plow through ice three metres thick. And the underside remains ice-free. 
A ship able to survive thick ice and on a stormy sea
The next trial for the model is in ice-free waters. This time,it's a simulation of a voyage over the equator - along the African coast. There the boat would have to surmout waves ten meters high. 
Eberhard Wagner gives a positive summary

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