According to Shipyard General Director A. Alexander Buzakov, the acknowledgement act for the ice-resistant North Pole platform, which is still being built at Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, will be approved in the summer of 2022, TASS reports.
“The platform is set to undergo short-scale sailing tests on September 25, and the mooring tests are set to commence on July 1,” said the Director General. “These will also be signed by us in March next year.
According to the Ministry, the tests are planned for the summer of 2022 in the Baltic Sea.
“We will rely on the study results of scientific researchers on the platform while developing our northern areas,” he said.
The platform will resume traditional North Pole expeditions, which were stopped by climate change in the early 2000s. The North Pole drifting stations were examined by Shipbuilders throughout their history and offered the perfect design of a floating building for scientific long-term observatory activities. On December 18, 2020, the platform became online.
Prime Minister Michail Mishustin said in July that more than 1 billion rubles ($13.6 million) is being spent by the government on the building and testing of the North Pole, which are planned for 2022.
Although the platform is still under development, scientists will start arranging the research program later on on the North Poles. The institute will co-ordinate these efforts with Russian and international partners.
“Our long-term strategies are being developed. Laboratories will be in operation after the platform is over. Job changes may occur over 10-15 years, therefore the ship is intended to easily adapt the laboratories to new duties “Reporters were told by the director of the institution. “The basic program of study is accomplished. During our work, we have used our prior experience to arrange floating AARI stations. We also draw on the experience of other countries such as the Mosaic Mission in the vicinity of the North Pole for one year. Our institution was part of this global effort. Foreign colleagues are very interested in working on our Platform in the Arctic all year round and I hope that we can organize joint research.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin suggested during the Eastern Economic Forum in September that an international expedition to the high latitudes of the Arctic should be organized under Russia’s leadership. He believes the North Pole ice-resistant platform should be the basis of the trip.
