Shanghai, November 5 (China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Wang Yejie) Today, the Xuelong Antarctic research vessel set off from Shanghai and opened China's 38th Antarctic scientific expedition. Among them, 29 members of China Railway Construction Engineering Group went out with the team, and they will undertake construction tasks such as Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station.
The construction of Zhongshan Station has undertaken a number of tasks such as oil storage expansion system, power supply system, and renovation of old power generation buildings. After the completion of zhongshan station, the functions are more scientific and modern, providing a strong guarantee for polar scientific investigation.
Since its first departure to the Antarctic continent in 1984, china has made remarkable achievements in the antarctic scientific expedition. In 2002, the China Science Expedition Station began a large-scale demolition and construction of the new, and after 17 arduous constructions, the permanent Zhongshan Expedition Station stood on the South Pole. Its builder is the "Antarctic Warrior" from China Railway Construction Engineering.
The average annual temperature in Antarctica is -25 °C, and an extreme minimum temperature of -89.8 °C has been recorded. At such a low temperature, ordinary steel will become as brittle as glass, and if you throw a glass of water into the air, what falls is a piece of ice crystal. It is not only the coldest place in the world, but also the most windy place in the world, with an average of 300 days of winds above level 8 per year. Hurricanes with wind speeds of up to 100 m/s have been observed in Antarctica, which is equivalent to three times that of a Category 12 typhoon.
Antarctic Zhongshan Station was built on February 26, 1989, when finished containers were used as a place for scientific expedition personnel to work and live, and the conditions were difficult. In 2002, when China Railway construction workers first arrived in Antarctica, the old Zhongshan Station, assembled from simple containers, had been baptized by more than a decade of wind and snow, and the facilities were seriously damaged and rudimentary. "It's almost summer, and the outside of our station is still wrapped in ice, and it hurts to watch, I really don't know how they overwinter." At that time, the builders of China Railway Construction Engineering Group looked forward to the day when Zhongshan Station could be built into the best Antarctic scientific research station.
In 2007, the state officially launched the Antarctic "Tenth Five-Year Plan" capacity building and carried out a large-scale expansion of Zhongshan Station. In 2015, the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" capacity building of Antarctic Zhongshan Station was successfully completed. During this period, the builders have successively built comprehensive scientific research buildings, comprehensive libraries, garages, waste treatment buildings, sewage treatment buildings, helipads, main power generation buildings, wintering dormitory buildings and other projects in the Rasman Hills.
Later, the builder built a 3-story comprehensive scientific research building, not only with a special medical room, but also a small screening hall, a gym and an indoor basketball hall.
The old dormitory building used to be in difficult condition, and when the office was also a dormitory, the tables were made of construction materials. Later, in the new dormitory building, there are 24-hour fire safety monitoring equipment, safety problems, the duty personnel can be notified to all corners of Zhongshan Station through the broadcast; there are new floor heating equipment, indoor constant temperature throughout the day; there are 24-hour hot water baths, effectively relieving the physical fatigue brought by hard work to the scientific expedition team members.
The builders are also growing vegetables at "the end of the world." The supply of fresh vegetables has always been a problem that plagues China's Antarctic scientific expeditions. Lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes were once the "luxuries" in the hearts of Antarctic expedition members.
In this context, starting from the 31st Antarctic scientific expedition, China launched the National Science and Technology Support Program project "Research and Demonstration Project on Key Technologies for Greenhouse Vegetable Production in Antarctic Extreme Environment". Since 2017, the Antarctic Project Department of China Railway Construction Engineering Group has undertaken the construction of the vegetable greenhouse of Zhongshan Station. The vegetable greenhouse adopts a modern translucent building structure that can withstand the strong winds of 14 levels, and the shape is crystal clear like an ice cube, which not only ensures the light permeability required for the greenhouse, but also meets the visual characteristics of polar architecture.
In 2020, in the 36th scientific expedition, the Antarctic Project Department of China Railway Construction Engineering completed the research and demonstration project of key technologies for vegetable production in antarctic extreme environment greenhouses - vegetable greenhouse and corridor project, the first floor greenhouse meets the planting of vegetables in the station area, and the glass corridor on the second floor facilitates the passage of team members. Today, this corridor has become the "brightest scenic line" of Zhongshan Station.
From scientific research equipment to living facilities, from small outbuildings to large building units, from 2002 to 2021, in the past 19 years, China Railway Construction Workers have transformed Zhongshan Station from a simple container tin house into a modern "small town" integrating scientific research, life, environmental protection, medical treatment and other functions, with a total construction area of more than 8,000 square meters.
Source: China Youth Daily client