Situation Report #21, 9. January 2020

Little Dome C - Beyond EPICA Drilling Site (75.29917 degS, 122.44516 degE)

Personnel: Saverio Panichi (ENEA), Michele Scalet (ENEA), Luc Piard (CNRS), Jakob Schwander (unibe), Thomas Stocker (unibe), Remo Walther (unibe), Massimo Frezzotti (U Roma 3), Riccardo Devescovi (Armi)

Weather: sunny, steady wind

Today we celebrated the inauguration of all tents on site. The construction crew was working so efficiently that they: (i) finished the recreation tent, (ii) mounted the side door at the main entrance to the drilling tent, (iii) placed the snow mounds around all tents at BELDC, and (iv), built a fine dining table (design Luc Piard) for a party of at least 12 polar workers. 

Saverio has prepared an aperitif at this memorable occasion which we all enjoyed in the recreation tent at ambient temperatures of ‒13.4 °C!

At Radix we have drilled another few meters with various drill heads. We still have problems with the initial grip of the drill that should come into auto-pull mode. However, all versions tested so far fail to produce a satisfactory pull. Tomorrow, we will test a drill head with the centre drill moved forward while not increasing the numbers of thread revolutions that would risk blocking. Radix drilling depth: 156.0 m.

LDC, 9.1.2020