First-of-their-kind experimental launches in the Russian Arctic were carried out from aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker. The tests explored new approaches to communications and environmental monitoring at high latitudes.
The tests, carried out in August, had initially been planned for the North Pole, but strong winds forced a change of plans. Two launches into the stratosphere were eventually carried out from aboard the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy. According to reports, the project involved Murmansk Arctic University (MAU) alongside several Russian private-sector, state and non-profit partners, with participation from China’s Harbin Institute of Technology.
The first launch went ahead at 90° N. A stratospheric radiosonde carrying an FM transmitter reached an altitude of more than 30 kilometres. RUVDS, one of the Russian companies involved in the project, says that, to its knowledge, this was the first time FM broadcasting from the stratosphere had been carried out in the range of consumer VHF receivers.
The second experimental launch had to be moved because of the weather and took place a day later near Franz Josef Land. It tested a newly developed recoverable stratospheric platform for Arctic monitoring, which is described as a hybrid of a stratospheric balloon and an aircraft-type drone. The platform carried a suite of sensors and an experimental multispectral camera. The key advantage of the device is its recoverability, allowing valuable equipment to be returned to a designated area and reused. MAU described it as the first successful Arctic launch of a stratospheric platform of this type by Russian scientists.
Lifted by a helium balloon, the platform reached an altitude of 15.5 kilometres before separating from its carrier. It travelled more than 100 kilometres while collecting environmental and meteorological data, then deployed a parachute and landed at a predetermined location on Hooker Island (Franz Josef Land archipelago). Bad weather delayed the recovery until the following day, when the platform was successfully retrieved.
The experiments formed part of Icebreaker of Knowledge, an annual international educational expedition that takes school students to the North Pole. This year, the expedition brought together students from 23 countries. Rather than simply observing the experiments, they worked alongside specialists and helped prepare the equipment for launch. The organisers stressed that their main achievement was managing to combine the expedition’s educational programme with real scientific testing.
The tested technologies could have a range of applications in the Arctic. The recoverable platform can support observations of sea-ice conditions, assessment of the effects of climate change, tracking of marine mammal populations and rapid responses to environmental accidents. According to MAU, the results also provide a technological basis for further improving the quality and expanding the range of communications available along the Northern Sea Route. The radio experiment tested a system that might eventually provide radio coverage across Russia, including remote areas without local transmission towers.
Experts cited by Vedomosti see the work as a step towards a more economical Arctic monitoring system capable of operating in real time with less dependence on satellite data. They particularly highlighted the importance of greater technological independence under current sanctions restrictions, arguing that cheaper and rapidly deployable communications and monitoring could contribute directly to safer navigation along the Northern Sea Route.
According to MAU representatives, the next step is to analyse the first flight of the recoverable platform and refine its design and payload for specific applications. Full-scale, regular launches of the platform are planned from winter 2027.
Dr. Yana Kirichenko, PolarJournal