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Imagine living for months without daylight in a place with temperatures between -80 and -20 degrees Celsius and spending an entire year with only a small group of colleagues.

If you’re an extrovert who loves sunny weather, this scenario probably sounds like a nightmare. But if you’re a space enthusiast who’s passionate about research, Concordia Station could be your ideal destination.

Located in the heart of Antarctica, Concordia Station is a joint French-Italian research facility that opened in 2005. It hosts scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) who are researching human adaptability to extreme environments.

In this episode of Euronews Tech Talks we meet Jessica Studer, a Swiss ESA doctor who landed in Antarctica in November 2023.

From Switzerland to Antarctica to research space medicine

“During my medical studies, I always had the feeling that something was missing,” Studer told Euronews.

That feeling changed when she participated in Asclepios, a student-led space simulation. This experience inspired her to focus on space medicine, and after completing her studies, she decided to apply for a position on Concordia Station and was selected.

Before setting off for Antarctica in 2023, Studer and her crew completed an intensive training program and traveled from one end of Europe to the other. Then they headed to the South Pole.

Studer still remembers her conversations on the plane with team members:

“We had never been to Antarctica before and (none of) us knew what was going to happen,” she said, talking about her crew being afraid of the extreme weather.

“We put on everything we could and then went out like little astronauts.”

Studer and her scientific colleagues made it to Antarctica and survived the extreme weather conditions, but the freezing temperatures were not the only challenge they faced during their experience.

“In Europe we are so used to being surrounded by noise, and then you come into this environment and there is nothing,” Studer told Euronews, describing the surreal silence outside Concordia Station.

“Some people can be a little anxious,” she added.

The feeling of near-total isolation, difficult for most people to endure, is a central element of Concordia Station and one of the primary purposes of the crew living there.

Concordia Station, life under extreme conditions

The idea for Concordia was born in the 1990s when a permanent research center was needed that could operate year-round and support various scientific activities. Construction began in 1999 and took several years due to extreme weather conditions. Since its opening in 2005, Concordia has played a crucial role in glaciology, astronomy and human psychology.

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For example, ESA conducts isolation studies that serve as simulations.

“We put together a crew of five to six people and simulate that we are on a space mission, for example,” said Angelique van Ombergen, team leader for Human Exploration Science at ESA.

In this way, ESA can assess how isolation affects people’s mental and physical health, explained van Ombergen.

“We’re looking at what impact it has on sleep. What psychological coping mechanisms are used, etc.,” she said.

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All of these studies have already produced some conclusions, including the finding that different groups of people may respond differently to isolation, an assessment that is useful for space research.

“Knowing this, you can identify the key members of a team, the right composition for a long-term mission,” van Ombergen told Euronews.

The research conducted at Concordia Station can also be extremely relevant for space missions. For example, Studer is studying blood samples to understand metabolic and immune system changes due to stress as well as microbial isolation. With this approach, we hope to expand our knowledge of long-term space missions.

But believe it or not, isolation can also have positive effects on your body and mental health. Tune in to this episode of Euronews Tech Talks to find out which ones.

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