Weather stops plastic waste car reaching South Pole
A car made from waste plastic has been forced to abort its mission to the South Pole because of bad weather.
Solar Voyager was set to be the first solar-powered expedition to reach the world’s most southernmost point.
But despite it being Antarctica’s summer, unexpected heavy snow has meant progress has been slow, and now the team have had to turn around.
The team from Holland say they’ve still achieved their main mission: to prove plastic waste can be put to good use, though they’d rather people avoided using single-use plastic altogether.
HT/PM
And that shows exactly how solar would work here in the winter – we would freeze.
‘But despite it being Antarctica’s summer, unexpected heavy snow has meant progress has been slow, and now the team have had to turn around.’
Are the solar panels facing the wrong direction now?
‘The team from Holland say they’ve still achieved their main mission: to prove plastic waste can be put to good use’
Wut? What good use?
Gotta hand it to BBC, though. At least they announced the failure. Usually, nothing is said when all the Green Fair plans don’t work out.
That plastic waste can be re-purposed has never been in doubt. Companies have been doing that for decades.
Whether large scale recovery and re-use is an economical idea is much still in doubt.
I thought this was the space probe that is going to orbit the sun. I’m so easily confused.
That was my first thought too.
Well, it might not be something in outer space, but it sure is something way out in left field.
I hope they put the remains in the correct recycling bin. Collections every 10 years (on a Wednesday).
“most southernmost”
Ummm.
Put 3 generators on that thing with an ample supply of diesel and that thing might actually be somewhat useful. What a waste.
But the computer model guaranteed that it would work!
maybe they could put a waterhweel on it n try to get to the nth pole?
be a damned good laugh
as it is its been amusing, if brief.
What the Solar Voyager proved is they can go faster and farther if they threw away the solar panels and used the plastic waste as fuel. Gasification will convert it to syngas then to methanol, the fuel of Indy 500 cars. Voyager weighs 1.48 tonnes. One tonne of plastic produces about a tonne of methanol. At about half the heating value of gasoline and 30 mpg fuel consumption of gasoline car, one tonne of methanol can go 5,000 miles. Throw away the solar panels. They just add weight to the methanol car.
Pyrolysis and steam reforming of polyethylene to syngas:
(C2H4)n + 2n H2O = 2n CO + 4n H2
Recombination of syngas to methanol:
CO + 2 H2 = CH3OH
Hence, one mole of polyethylene (plastic) produces two moles of methanol. Multiplier effect is due to steam input. It essentially turns water into methanol fuel.
There is a cryptic remark with no explanation:
“rather people avoided using single use plastic..”
This is a ‘tell’. Something more fundamental failed and they dont want to talk about it. I would think you would want engineering plastics for such a hostile environment. My take: the plastic was brittle and cracked up.
Very likely. Recycled plastic is usually a mixture of different polymers with unpredictable strength.
“The team from Holland say they’ve still achieved their main mission: to prove plastic waste can be put to good use…”
What’s so good about that “mission”?
They started from Union Glacier Camp, which is run by ANTARCTIC LOGISTICS & EXPEDITIONS (ALE), a private company that supports expeditions and provides trips to Mount Vinson (highest mountain on the continent) and the South Pole and other places.
The company lands large aircraft on wheels on a blue ice runway, hence how they got the Solar Voyager down to Antarctic in the first place. Union Glacier Camp is not on the coast. It is 1138 km from the South Pole so return trip would be 2276 km.
https://antarctic-logistics.com/camp/union-glacier-camp/
From following it mission, it doesn’t seem that getting enough power from the panels was the issue. They were reporting above expected numbers even on days with bad weather. The problem it seems was that the snow was slowing their progress so much that their supplies wouldn’t last long enough
Assuming the contraption ever left the parking lot, whom do you call to tow it back ??
They should have given it pedals so they could recycle the whole car.
I bet the solar cells and electric motor(s) weren’t made from recycled plastic.
they should have asked for advice from the ship of fools https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/08/01/mocked-and-belittled-for-getting-stuck-in-ice_a_23057266/
Well done, everyone involved earned a participation ribbon! Results don’t matter, they meant well that’s what counts!
“But despite it being Antarctica’s summer, the heavy snow has meanwhile progressed, and now the team has had to turn around. ”
good practical experience anyway. Now they can recycle their plastic scrap truck with new knowledge to maybe see the South Pole at the next test run. In reality.