“We’ve had a productive few days since I last checked in. Yesterday and today we worked on the eastern slopes adjacent to the Anuchin Glacier. We drilled a couple of holes in the lake – one to start a dive hole, the other to deploy a dissolved oxygen sensor that will track changes during freeze-up beneath the ice. But today marks another shift in the weather pattern.” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 1 February 2026: Drilling Diving Holes

Keith’s note: Dale Andersen’s research team continues their astrobiology research at Lake Untersee, Antarctica: “Today, the sun made a welcome return and although the wind stayed brisk through much of the day, conditions were stable enough for us to get some solid work done. We collected glacial ice, took air samples for environmental DNA, and began melting out the instruments we deployed in the lake last season – those measuring dissolved oxygen and light.” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 21 January 2026: Lake Untersee Base Camp Weather

Keith’s note: On this day in 1908 Ernest Shackleton and the British Antarctic Expedition arrived at The Bay of Whales in Antarctica. In a few years NASA will be landing another polar expedition at the Moon’s south pole near a crater named “Shackleton”. Its called history folks.

Dale Andersen: “We just completed the camp last night, and today a storm will move in with 50 mph winds (more?) and perhaps some snow. Should provide a quick test of our handiwork! The layout is organized to maximize protection for the various tents. We positioned the sea-container to block the major winds out of the SE, so the central camp sits in its lee.” (Keith’s note: the tents may look familiar – they are made by the same company that provided them to “Star Trek Strange New World”) More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 18 January 2026: Lake Untersee Base Camp Is Operational

Keith’s Note: Live from Antarctica: Why the Ice Matters Join Miles O’Brien on Thursday 15 Jan at 12:00 PM EST for a real-time conversation from the bottom of the world—about science, exploration, and why Antarctica matters to all of us. Link https://youtu.be/LIdharrlzbM

Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen and his research team are settling in at their base camp on the shore of Lake Untersee, Antarctica. How they go about this expedition is a preview of how we’ll be doing science on the Moon, Mars – and beyond. More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 14 January 2026: Setting Up Base Camp At lake Untersee

Keith’s note: Dale Andersen and his astrobiology research team departed the Ultima ice airstrip where they arrived the other day – and drove their snowmobiles south to their research base location at Lake Untersee. I posted some slightly blurry pics yesterday but now that they have their Starlink up and operational, there’s more imagery and a video to show you. Oh yes – Dale Andersen is holding a ISS Crew 11 patch. He and fellow biologist, astronaut Zena Cardman, have worked together and had planned an antarctic/space conversation – but the crew’s early return cancelled that. More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 12 January 2026: Overland Traverse Imagery – And Hello ISS

Keith’s note: Today’s overland traverse from Ultima air strip, southward, to Lake Untersee, was done by snowmobiles pulling sledges packed with gear and supplies. Dale has been doing research in the region around Lake Untersee for many years. As such they have worked out a standard path around terrain that they follow more or less – with weather altering the course slightly from one trip to another. Update: Dale Andersen and his team are now at Lake Untersee, at S 71.260082° E 13.506017° elevation of 2,645 ft. More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 11 January 2026: Overland Traverse To Lake Untersee

“One real improvement this season is that we now have a dedicated place to stage everything at the Ultima airbase: a new WeatherPort hut (about 30 × 30 × 13 ft). For the first time we will be able to keep all of our gear in one spot, including the snowmobiles and the ATV, instead of chasing equipment across multiple caches. Just as important, it gives us a sheltered workspace when we need to lay things out, troubleshoot, or do maintenance without fighting the wind and drifting snow.” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 9 January 2026: Building Our New Storage Facility

“Hi Keith, We arrived 6pm UTC Tuesday evening to a bright, sunny windless day with air temps just over freezing. Our flight down was nice and he aircraft should return to CPT later this morning or afternoon. Sorry I think my last couple of notes did not make it to you, it will take a couple of days to get our comms sorted out as we get organized. If all goes well we hope to start the traverse to Untersee perhaps over the weekend. As you can imagine our priority now is to get the snowmobiles up and running and to get our cargo sorted and organized, So, a busy couple of days. I hope the weather continues to be nice!” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 7 January 2026: Arrival At Novolazarevskaya Station, Antarctica