Perseverance, the Polar Pod supply ship, unveiled by Jean-Louis Étienne

Researchers lack data in situ on theSouthern Ocean. It is from this observation that Jean-Louis Etienne imagined the Polar Pod, a vertical vessel intended to drift towards the Antarctic for no less than three years. An expedition that will require organizing crew changes every two months. Thanks to a supply ship that the doctor-explorer and adventurer has just presented.

It was baptized Perseverance. A sailboat in aluminum 42 meters long and 11 meters wide, the masts of which will culminate at 33 meters in height. Leaning on its sails and on a motor, it will sail at a speed target of 10 knots, or just under 20 kilometers per hour. On board, a crew of eight sailors. And the capacity to accommodate 12 passengers in the cabin.

To navigate the Southern Ocean

the sailing ship Perseverance has been specially designed for navigation in the polar oceans. It will allow both the refueling of Polar Pod and the relief of its crews. Thanks to the possibility of varying the draft, the operation will be able to take place when the sea is flat, thanks to a zodiac or on rougher seas, thanks to a winch.

The construction de Persévérance should be launched next February at the Piriou sites in Finistère. Its launch is scheduled for March 2023. The supply vessel will then be able to depart from ports in the southern region such as Kerguelen, Adelaide, Ushuaia or Cape Town. And when not in use for a Polar Pod refueling mission, it will be able to take passengers in the Howling Fiftieths, on the Antarctic ice floe or in parts of Tasmania or Patagonia, for example.

Remember that the Polar Pod oceanographic campaign must be launched in December 2023 and end in 2026 after having made two round-the-world trips around Antarctica.