We still haven’t fully explored Antarctica | Travel News
While humans send probes beyond our solar system and dream of life on Mars, a vast portion of Earth remains largely unexplored by our feet. Some areas of Antarctica, in fact, are more difficult to access than outer space itself. As the coldest, windiest, and most isolated region on the planet, it is completely inhospitable to human life—an alien environment right here on Earth.
Yet, efforts to explore the southernmost continent persist, even though it doesn't receive the same attention it did a century ago from explorers like Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton:
- In 2014, two British adventurers completed the first successful journey of Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition.
- In 2016, Henry Worsley tragically died while attempting the first solo, unsupported crossing of the continent.
- In 2017, Australian explorer Eric Philips led a group that forged a new route to the South Pole through the Transantarctic Mountains.
Recent discoveries: While scientists are still unsure about what lies beneath Antarctica's glaciers and ice sheets, new insights are emerging. Using satellites and radar-equipped planes, NASA has found an underground cavern nearly the size of Manhattan and a massive 300-mile-wide asteroid crater.
Looking ahead: Among several ongoing initiatives, the US National Science Foundation is developing a new research vessel that will be able to break through the ice to access hard-to-reach areas, with plans to launch by 2031. A major challenge for future expeditions is safeguarding this untouched wilderness from exploitation and conflict as access becomes easier.
