An expedition member with the Inmarsat Government BGAN terminal. Photo: Inmarsat

Inmarsat Government provided Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite communication services to an Antarctic expedition earlier this year, the company announced on Friday. 

The South Orkney Expedition which took place from Feb. 21 to March 6, took place on Signy Island, which is located in the Southern Ocean, about 375 miles north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula. Perseverance DX Group, a nonprofit expedition organization, conducted record-setting, multi-mode High Frequency (HF) communications using amateur radio frequencies, ranging from just above the Amplitude Modulated (AM) broadcast band to the edge of the Very High Frequency (VHF) band, under widely varying ionospheric and solar flux conditions.

The team also collected marine sediment samples for scientific research and tested satellite communications and new amateur radio technologies in this remote region of the world. The expedition also partnered with middle and high school teachers to provide information for use in their classrooms. 

“These internet activities would not have been possible without Inmarsat’s services. We appreciate Inmarsat Government’s cooperation, technical assistance and the equipment that included BGAN and satellite phone services,” said Dr. David Lloyd, the expedition leader. “Conducting expeditions to remote parts of the world to do research and support student STEM education requires having communications equipment that can reliably provide voice and broadband data communications under extreme conditions.”