At 3:00 a.m. on May 4, 13 members of the expedition who participated in the "Peak Mission" Everest expedition to the summit took advantage of the night to set off from the assault camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters and began to rush to the top. At 12:22, the members of the first echelon of scientific expeditions successfully reached the top.
On April 28, 2022, the "Peak Mission" Everest scientific expedition was fully launched, with a total of more than 270 scientific expedition members from 16 scientific expedition teams participating. This is a comprehensive scientific expedition with the widest subject coverage, the largest number of participants in the scientific expedition team, and the most advanced instruments and equipment used since the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition, and it is a feat of mankind to carry out extremely high altitude comprehensive scientific investigation and research in the Everest region.
"Peak Mission" Everest Scientific Expedition Base Camp Photo: Xinhua News Agency
It is understood that the "peak mission" Everest scientific expedition will break through the altitude of more than 8,000 meters for the first time and complete the comprehensive scientific investigation task of the summit of Mount Everest, and plan to create a number of world records for scientific investigation and research.
After the 13 expedition climbers reach the top, they will be divided into three groups to complete three tasks at the same time. These include the installation of the world's highest altitude weather station at 8800 meters, the measurement of ice and snow thickness with high-precision radar, and the experiment of the human body's extremely high altitude adaptation mechanism.
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Achievement 1: Erection of the world's highest altitude automatic weather station
An important task of the Everest expedition is to build 8 weather stations from 5200 meters above sea level to 8800 meters, of which 4 are above 7000 meters above sea level. In particular, at an altitude of 8800 meters above Sea Level, an automatic weather station weighing 50 kg will be erected, which will become the world's highest automatic weather station, realizing the automatic observation and data transmission of the meteorological gradient in the extremely high altitude area of Mount Everest, and the measured data obtained will fill the gap in the meteorological record of the extremely high altitude of Mount Everest.
According to reports, the automatic weather station is powered by solar panels and can be used for 2 years under normal circumstances. It can transmit meteorological information such as temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed, and solar radiation through satellite communication. After the automatic weather station is successfully erected, the weather information transmitted back can be received within 12 minutes.
At 12:46, the weather station was successfully erected. After measurement, the final installation location of this automatic weather station is 8830 meters above sea level, and experts at the base camp of the "Peak Mission" Everest Scientific Expedition suggest that the automatic weather station be named "Peak Weather Station".
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Achievement 2: Measure the thickness of ice and snow at the top of the Earth
Detecting the thickness of ice and snow at the summit is also the focus and difficulty of this expedition. For the first time, the expedition will use high-precision radar to measure the thickness of ice and snow at the top of the earth, and the high-precision ground-penetrating radar brought by the climbers will not only measure the peak, but also measure the entire Everest Rongbu Glacier. It is also planned to complete the collection of 5800-8300 meters of snow ice and rock samples and drill ice cores, Wu Guangjian, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: In addition to measuring the thickness of ice and snow at the summit of Mount Everest, the snow samples on the summit surface are taken, and we want to know what ingredients are in the highest surface snow.
The scientific expedition team collects ice and snow samples at the summit of Mount Everest Picture: CCTV live broadcast
In this scientific expedition, the "Jimu-1" III type aerocart independently developed by the mainland will make its debut, trying to break the world record for the atmospheric observation altitude of the floating boat, and the lift-off target is expected to exceed the altitude of Mount Everest and reach 9,000 meters.
"Peak Mission" Everest Expedition Task Schematic Diagram: CCTV News
Achievement 3: Experiments on the mechanism of adaptation to extremely high altitudes in the human body
The expedition will also track the transport of air pollution at very high altitudes and the high-altitude adaptability of expedition personnel.
Zhu Tong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Peking University, is a researcher who participated in the "Peak Mission - Comprehensive Scientific Investigation and Research in the Extremely High Altitude Area of Mount Everest", and they used their own body as an experimental object to explore the impact of altitude sickness on the human body.
For research purposes, some expedition members wear blood oxygen and heart rate patches and climb to an altitude of 6350 meters or even higher. "A lot of the team has arrived at an altitude of 6,350 meters and I've been training actively these days and look forward to the opportunity to meet them there. As the altitude rises along the way, my body will change accordingly, and this intuitive feeling of the data is more enlightening to me. Zhu Tong said.
Academician Zhu Tong displays a wearable Holter ECG recorder for scientific expeditions photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei
In order to obtain more data, the expedition team will track the population at an altitude of 5200 meters, 5800 meters, 6350 meters and 8848 meters at an altitude of 5200 meters, and carry out scientific research on the human health effects of hypoxia at high altitudes.
"Unlike in the past, we are emphasizing this time what drastic changes the human body will produce at very high altitudes. If in the midst of drastic changes, the human body is exposed to some pollutants, such as air pollution, then the extremely high altitude of high altitude lack of oxygen and environmental pollution will have a superimposed effect on the harm of the human body. Zhu Tong said.
Upstream News Synthesis Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News, Central Broadcasting Network