China's 26th Expedition to Antarctica

In Shanghai, Hundreds of people are saying goodbye as Chinese scientists left Shanghai on a Chinese boat called the “Snow Dragon” on Sunday, October 11, 2009 for Chinas 26th scientific exploration to Antarctica.

The deputy director of the National Bureau of Oceanography, Chen Lianzeng, declared that precisely at 10:10 AM, the start of the expedition onto Antarctica had begun.

251 scientists, including workers and logistics staff from China, Russia, and Australia were in the half year expedition to Antarctica in the icebreaker “Snow Dragon”.

During the trip, there will be two exploration teams that will be sent to the inner land of Antarctica. One team will head to China's Kunlun Station located at Dome A, which is the highest point on the continent at 4093 meters above sea level. More research equipment will be installed here for astronomical observation.

The other team will go to the Grove Mountains approximately 400 km away from the Zhongshan Station to collect meteorolites and to conduct other scientific research.

From 1998 to 2006, China has gone to the mountains four times and collected 9834 meteorolites, making the country boast the third largest collection of meteorolites in the world. Who knows how many meteorolites China will collect this year?

The scientists are expected to return to Shanghai on April 10, 2010. China launched its first expedition to the Antarctic in 1984 and has set up three stations there.

Fascinating fact: China have made nearly 4000 visits to the South Pole during the past 25 years! After this exploration... 4001 visits, who knows how many explorations there will be in another 25 years?!