Brazil’s new US$100 million Antarctic base, built by China
- Base built on site of previous facility, which was largely razed in a 2012 fire
- The new centre consists of 17 laboratories and accommodation for 65 people
Brazil has inaugurated a new US$100 million Antarctic base, built by Chinese company CEIEC to replace a research station destroyed by fire almost seven years ago.
“Brazil is back in the Antarctic with great force,” Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes, Brazil’s only astronaut, wrote in a Twitter message from the Comandante Ferraz base on King George Island off the Antarctic peninsula.
Pontes said the new 48,375 sq ft facility was bigger and safer, with 17 laboratories, a heliport, and other advances. Scientists will use the base to study microbiology, glaciers, and climate, among other areas.
Brazil’s Antarctic programme began in 1982 when the Brazilian Navy acquired a Danish icebreaker and made its first expedition, rushing to become a party to the Antarctic Treaty that would decide the continent’s future.
But Brazil’s programme was set back in 2012 when an explosion in the generator room caused a fire that killed two naval officers and destroyed 70 per cent of the building.