Comandante Ferras (Antarctic Station)

Station "Comandante Ferras"

Visit of the President of Brazil to the station

Comandante Ferras ( ) is the Brazilian Antarctic station ( “base” ).

The base was opened on February 6, 1984 in the zone of Brazilian interests in Antarctica on the Admiralty Bay on the island of Waterloo (King George) ( South Shetland Islands ). The station received its name in honor of the naval officer , hydrograph and oceanologist Luis Antonio di Carvalho Ferras , who twice visited Antarctica , a participant in the Antarctic exploration program, who suddenly died during a conference of oceanologists in Halifax in 1982 .

The station has about 100 employees in the summer and about 50 in the winter .

On February 17, 2008, the base was visited by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva ^[1] .

Map of the island with science stations

Near the base there are stations: General Artigas ( Uruguay ), King Sejong ( Republic of Korea ), Jubani ( Argentina ), President Eduardo Frey Montalva ( Chile ), Henryk Arztowski ( Poland ) and Machu Picchu ( Peru ). Further south, on the island of Leipzig (Nelson), is the station Eco-Nelson (Eco-Nelson, Czech Republic ). 50 kilometers from the station, on Greenwich Island, is the Chilean station Captain Arturo Prat .

February 25, 2012 the station was destroyed by fire . A fire broke out in a room with generators , from where it spread to the entire station ^[2] . The Brazilian Navy held a tender for the best design for the new building. The local company won the tender, and the construction contract went to the large Chinese company CEIEC, which specializes in defense construction. The station should be completed in 2018.