UK's space-age Antarctic base can slide across ice

[February 06, 2013]  LONDON (AP) -- Researchers say that Britain's new Antarctic base will be movable -- capable of sliding across the ice on ski-clad stilts.

The innovation will enable researchers to keep one step ahead of the southern continent's shifting ice and pounding snows.

The British Antarctic Survey says that the Halley VI Research Station is located on the Brunt Ice Shelf, a floating sheet of ice at the edge of the South Atlantic Ocean. It's the sixth in a line of research stations based at the site, most of which had to be abandoned after they were crushed by the weight of the polar snow.

Survey spokesman Paul Seagrove said Wednesday that the latest iteration -- consisting of sci-fi-looking modules raised off the ground by hydraulic stilts -- should last a bit longer.

[Associated Press]

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