Team Polar | Traversing Antarctica with solar energy instead of fossil fuels
Antarctica is often described as one of the most protected places on Earth. A continent dedicated to science, peace, and international cooperation. A land without borders, where nature still sets the rules. At least, that is what we like to believe.
In reality, research in Antarctica is far from sustainable. Massive diesel-powered trucks, heavy machinery, and carbon-intensive logistics are routinely used to transport equipment and people between research stations. These vehicles leave emissions, noise, and physical tracks on a fragile environment that recovers painfully slowly. In the place that teaches us the most about climate change, we are still contributing to the very problem we are trying to understand.
That is where we come in.
Team Polar is a multidisciplinary student team working to prove that Antarctic innovation can be done differently. Founded in 2019, our mission is clear: to develop a sustainable, solar-powered rover capable of traversing Antarctica while supporting scientific research with minimal environmental impact. We believe that if research is meant to protect the planet, the way it is conducted must align with those values.
Our rover is designed to operate autonomously in one of the harshest environments on Earth, powered by solar energy instead of fossil fuels. Lightweight, modular, and efficient, it is being built not just as a machine, but as a statement. A proof of concept that sustainable technology is not a limitation, but an opportunity. An opportunity to rethink exploration, logistics, and responsibility in extreme environments.
The journey to this point has been anything but simple. In 2022, we launched our first prototype and brought it to Norway for field testing. That moment marked a major milestone, but also revealed how much work still lay ahead. Over the last three years, the project has evolved through countless iterations, failures, late nights, and breakthroughs. Step by step, we have transformed an ambitious idea into a functioning system.
Today, Team Polar is more than a technical project. It is a collective of students from different countries, cultures, and academic backgrounds, united by a shared belief: that engineering can be a force for positive change. Every subsystem, every design decision, and every test reflects our commitment to sustainability, collaboration, and innovation.
We are building this rover not only to move across ice, but to move perspectives. To challenge the idea that progress requires pollution. To show that Antarctica deserves better, and that with creativity, responsibility, and determination, better is possible.
Team Polar stands for a future where exploration protects what it studies. Where innovation respects its environment. Where Antarctica remains not just protected in words, but in action.