Time Capsule

The Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (IAE) started in 1981 and established its first station, Dakshin Gangotri, in 1983 and then became member of the Antarctic Teay Consultative Meeting. Since then India has been sending scientific expeditions every year. In 1989, India established its second station, Maitri, in Schirmacher Oasis.

India is now establishing its third station at Larsemann Hills. The present expedition, 27th IAE, was flagged off from Goa in December 2007 and reached Larsemann Hills on 24th February, 2008 after spending 6 weeks at Maitri where it established India’s first Earth station.
The leader of the wintering team at Maitri of the 27th IAE is Mr Arun Chaturvedi, while the leader of the Indian expedition to Larsemann Hills is Mr Ajay Dhar. Both the leaders are veterans of many expeditions to Antarctica. The current objective of the Expedition to Larsemann Hills was to carry out a detailed survey of the area for establishing its station, Bharti, on coordinates of latitude of 69 degrees 10 min to 69 degrees 14 min South and longitude of 76 degrees 24 min to 76 degrees 25 min East.

This Time Capsule is being lowered in the Indian Ocean from the ship, Emerald Sea by the team of the Indian Expedition to Larsemann Hills on 23rd March, 2008, a sunny and bright day, with following coordinates:
Time: 8 am GMT (UTC)
Longitude: 36 degrees 27.18 min South
Longitude: 24 degrees 39.38 min East
Wind: 17 knots
Temp: 20 degrees C
Ship’s speed: 12.2 knots