Constellation safely arrived at the Dumont d’Urville station just a bit more than a week ago and we already have the first images. Data arrived before the images as it comes to us via the Iridium satellite network directly from Constellations on-board satellite transceiver. As the Iridium line and traffic are costly, we only send the most important information to our dashboard.

The photos we received were taken by the researchers who are testing the rover in Antarctica (and sent to us by e-mail!). In these moments, they are preparing to move away from the coast and into the continent to venture onto unknown terrain. They will conduct experiments on snow physics, make observations and tests. We wish them all the best for this intense and challenging next phase! You should read all about them here, where they describe what they do and how. Here’s a preview:

Finally, the photos:

The whole setup: Constellation Rover / Field Base Station with LoRa Gateway, Solar Panel and Battery / Transport Box

Constellation and his "Godfather", Laurent Arnaud, LGGE

Constellation Rover

Constellation Rover

All images: © L. Arnaud, B. Jourdain, LGGE