On November 1st, the 41st Chinese Antarctic Expedition, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, departed from Guangzhou and headed to Antarctica. The inspection team consists of over 500 people from more than 80 domestic units, including Liugong 926EHD excavator and 7 mechanics, officially embarking on an Antarctic ice breaking journey.
It is reported that this inspection will focus on three tasks: carrying out the construction of supporting facilities and equipment for the Qinling Station in Antarctica, conducting investigations on the impact and feedback of climate change on the Antarctic ecosystem, and extensively carrying out international cooperation in scientific research and logistics support. This Antarctic expedition will last for nearly 7 months and is expected to return to China in May 2025.
The 7 mechanics dispatched by LiuGong this time (including 3 "summer" team members and 4 "winter" team members) will go to the Great Wall Station, Zhongshan Station, and Qinling Station respectively. This is the largest number of on-site logistics support personnel assigned by LiuGong since the cooperation with the China Polar Research Center. In addition to the 2 winter team members currently in Antarctica, LiuGong will have 9 mechanics working in Antarctica at the same time.
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of China's polar exploration and the 16th anniversary of Liu Gong's participation in polar scientific expeditions. Over the past 16 years, Liugong has collaborated deeply with the China Polar Research Center, sending more than 30 people to participate in on-site logistics support for the North and South Poles, and more than 30 sets of engineering machinery and equipment shining on the Antarctic continent. Currently, 80% of the engineering machinery working in Antarctica is Liugong equipment. In addition, Liugong relies on the only Chinese polar scientific research engineering machinery laboratory in the construction machinery industry to continuously cooperate in the exchange and training of mechanical equipment support talents, research and development of polar special environment engineering machinery equipment projects, and the co construction of polar special environment machinery equipment experimental platforms.
The 41st Antarctic scientific expedition is a new stage of cooperation between LiuGong and the Polar Center. LiuGong will continue to provide strong and reliable equipment and professional and efficient services to help the successful completion of the 41st Antarctic scientific expedition, contributing LiuGong's strength to the steady development of China's polar scientific expedition.