(Cherbourg) The Tara polar station, which is to carry out scientific expeditions in the Arctic from 2026, was successfully launched on Friday at the French port of Cherbourg (north-west), according to an AFP journalist on site.
This floating laboratory, designed to withstand extreme temperatures and remain stuck in the ice for many months, can accommodate up to 20 people, crew and scientists, was built by the Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) shipyard.
“Everything is working perfectly,” Ludovic Marie, project director at these shipyards, in charge of the Tara program, told AFP, relieved.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the launching operations were interrupted by a leaking problem with a sensor at the keel.
“It’s great! », rejoices Martin Hertau, future captain of the station, who compared launching into the water to a “birth”.
The polar station appears as a futuristic metal igloo, mounted on a thick, rounded aluminum shell.
Lowered into the water millimeter by millimeter, it was then gently guided by boats to moor up at a pontoon.
The first departure is planned for 2026 for the “Tara Polaris I” mission, for around 500 days.
Before that, some interior fittings must be completed and tests will be carried out, at the dock, at sea and then in Arctic conditions, indicated Ludovic Marie.
Until now, no mission had been able to cope with the extreme conditions of the polar environment all year round.
The Tara station must drift into the Arctic from 2026 to 2045 to improve scientific knowledge of this region, considered a “climate sentinel” and particularly threatened, in particular by the melting of the ice.
Scientists estimate that from 2045, there should be no sea ice at all in summer.
The objective is “to document and understand the dynamics” of climate change in the Arctic, to “objectivize scientific data and identify the richness of local biodiversity”, according to the Tara Océan foundation.
“This future knowledge brings hope for better understanding and thus preserving what can still be preserved in the Arctic, but also elsewhere,” she says.
Five years of work were necessary to design the mission and 19 months to build the station.
The French private foundation Tara Océan, created 19 years ago, has been exploring the oceans since 2003. It works with the CNRS and other major international research laboratories. The new polar station, which cost 21 million euros, benefited from 13 million euros of public funds.