In Search Of Those Lost

are you really telling me i can order a poster of sir john franklin's meat to hang in my home

In temperatures that drop below -20 degrees Fahrenheit, along a route occasionally blocked by wind-driven ice dunes, a hundred miles from any other people, a team led by two of our scientists are surveying an unexplored stretch of Antarctic ice. 

They’ve packed extreme cold-weather gear and scientific instruments onto sleds pulled by two tank-like snow machines called PistenBullys, and after a stop at the South Pole Station (seen in this image), they began a two- to three-week traverse.

The 470-mile expedition in one of the most barren landscapes on Earth will ultimately provide the best assessment of the accuracy of data collected from space by the Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), set to launch in 2018.

This traverse provides an extremely challenging way to assess the accuracy of the data. ICESat-2’s datasets are going to tell us incredible things about how Earth’s ice is changing, and what that means for things like sea level rise.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com. 

what if the solution to all your problems is to get really into the history of polar exploration. Have you tried that

The men (and dogs) of the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914. Images from the State Library of New South Wales; photographs by the inimitable Frank Hurley (and a few by other expedition members). 

Bonus: expedition leader Douglas Mawson balancing on the rail of the Aurora with a delightfully boyish grin.

Northern Gothic

The perfect gift for your budding polar explorer: Game of to the North Pole by Air Ship, new for 1897!

The game is possibly inspired by Swedish explorer Salomon Andrée's 1897 attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon (which did not go well). Presumably it was made before Andrée's grim fate was known.

Is this Greenland (because it's green), or Svalbard? Either way, the objective appears to be nestled in a verdant mountain valley. Just like the real North Pole!

Arctic Silence (by Jan Erik Waider)

Instagram: @northlandscapes Tumblr: @really-shit

The expedition had set up cameras to study penguin migratory patterns. After several weeks of nothing, one of the cameras began picking up movement.