Photo: COLDEX
SpaceX’s Starlink internet is offering what the @Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) calls “unprecedented connectivity” at its site in Allan Hills, Antarctica.
The news comes in a post from the Center, which pointed out impressive connection speeds despite 30-knot winds at the site.
COLDEX is researching ice cores of up to 2.7 million years old in the National Science Foundation-backed location, and the team’s Twitter account was able to post a high-quality video of the icy conditions on Sunday using the Starlink connection.
SpaceX CEO @Elon Musk also replied to the tweet, noting that it’s “wild” being able to view such old ice cores.
Wild that we can see what was frozen 2.7 million years ago!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2022
The tweet comes just a few weeks after the U.S. Pentagon praised Starlink connectivity in the Arctic, where the polar climate conditions can significantly impair communications — not unlike those in Antarctica, the world’s southernmost polar region.
COLDEX is a research center for Oregon State that’s deliberately searching for the world’s oldest ice to help gain knowledge about past climates.
SpaceX launched Polar Starlink satellites in July that helped enable full-Earth coverage of its Starlink satellites, after the company showed off its polar orbital satellites with laser links early last year.
Starlink has now reached some of Earth’s most rural locations, most recently including the extremely remote Easter Island and Pitcairn Island.
