Frozen Planet – Guest blog

I am a 28 year old British doctor, employed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK. I used to work at Lerwick Health Care Centre as a medical student some years ago and love Shetland.

I recently applied and was successful for a job to work as a Research MD to conduct Human Spaceflight research for the European Space Agency, in Antarctica.  The research is aimed towards a future manned mission to Mars.

I am currently living at Concordia Station- in the most extreme environment on the continent and in the world- where temperatures drop to minus 80 degrees Celcius, some of the coldest ever experienced on Earth, and in May we will commence a period of 4 months of 24 hour darkness.   Adding to that, we are at 3800 metres altitude, breathing only one third the amount of Oxygen that is available in Lerwick, at sea level.

Having been left at the beginning of February, 13 of us will be living in isolation until November – where there is no chance of escape or evacuation even in the case of a surgical emergency – we are completely self-sufficient.  We are more isolated than the International Space Station.  We may as well be living on another planet.

Whilst living in Lerwick, I visited the Shetland Museum, where I came across the story that Fair Isle Wool that had been worn by Sir Ernest Shackleton in Antarctica around 100 years ago.  Before I left for Antarctica, I contacted Jamieson & Smith Shetland Wool Brokers and was delighted to have been gifted two sweaters, a double lined hat, neckwarmers and mittens made for me to take with me to Antarctica.

I am exceedingly grateful to Jamieson & Smith knitter, Sandra, who made me these items.  They are very warm and it is reassuring to know that when you go out to conduct science research in the world’s most extreme and isolated environment, that you are protected by a part of Shetland, as Shackleton once was.

You can find out more about the research and my experiences at:  www.AlexanderKumar.com

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More from Alex soon – we’re treating this as our own little experiment to see just how cosy he stays in our yarn!

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