Farewell To the South Pole Dome

Julie188 writes "After more than three decades of service to researchers and staff stationed at the bottom of the world, the dome at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was deconstructed this austral summer. Designed and constructed by the Seabees — the construction battalions of the US Navy — in the early 1970s, the dome's geodesic design provided a unique solution to the challenges posed to engineers trying to build structures at the South Pole. The dome is being returned to southern California where it will be held in storage. It could possibly be trotted out as an exhibit in a new US Navy Seabees museum."

Comments

Bad idea.

[grub]

Great, how do they know that in the past 28 years The Thing hasn't managed to figure out how to assimilate non-living matter and is now the dome? Just sitting there, waiting in the cold.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

How's that for tying two classics together?

Dang Air Force cutbacks.

[GiveBenADollar]

Guess they are also getting rid of the F-302s at McMurdo. Homeworld security must not be important to the current administration.

Re:Dang Air Force cutbacks.

[stefanlasiewski]

Hey, this administration dismantled LORAN-C, the backup system in case of GPS satellite spoofing or jamming.....

President Obama is influential, but he isn't capable of time travel. President Bush scheduled the dismantling, President Obama continued that recommendation. Both the Coast Guard and the DHS said they didn't need LORAN-C, so why maintain it? It smells like pork.

This dismantling was already scheduled by the previous administration, according to the FA.

The Department of Homeland Security last year started a painful upgrade to LORAN-C, adding modern electronics and solid-state transmitters, despite the fact that in 2008 President George W. Bush signed a law that scheduled the system's dissolution.

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/Loran/default.htm

The DHS and Coast Guard both said they didn't need LORAN-C. From http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/Loran/default.htm :

The Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010 allowed for termination of the LORAN-C signal on January 4, 2010, after certification from the Commandant of the Coast Guard that it was not needed for maritime navigation and from the Secretary of DHS that it is not needed as a backup for GPS.

Re:Pictures and more info

[atomic-penguin]

Here are deconstruction photos of the former dome station.

And Here is Why

[Lifyre]

Because TFS couldn't be bothered to give a hint as to why I will...

"The dome could no longer accommodate the demands of research activities taking place there, however, and each year the structure sunk deeper into the ice it was built on. Blowing snow that collected on top of it had to be removed and hauled away, burning up precious fuel and crew time during the short austral summer. The international treaty that governs human activities in Antarctica requires that buildings and equipment no longer in use be removed and the site remediated whenever possible, necessitating the dome's deconstruction and removal."

South Pole Crew

[ArtificialPulse]

I'm one of the 47 down here for the 2010 Winter season, the crew is missing the Dome. It was an icon in Antarctica, and this place feels like it's missing something without it. Someone pointed earlier to Spindler's website http://www.southpolesation.com/ where there is much more on the deconstruction from the unofficial South Pole historian. -- http://www.artificialpulse.com/