The job

Located at the mountain plateau called Dome C in Antarctica, Concordia research station is one of only three that is inhabited all year long. It is a jointly run by the French Polar Institute IPEV and the Italian National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA).

Between the extreme altitude – 3233 m above sea level means the crew experience chronic hypobaric hypoxia or lack of oxygen in the brain – four months of total darkness during the winter, and temperatures as low as –80°C, the base is fertile ground to research the effects of isolated, confined, and extreme environments on the human body and mind.

For this reason, each year ESA sponsors a medical doctor to oversee biomedical experiments at the base.

The current research doctor, Sascha Freigang of Austria, recently took over the post from 2022 research MD Hannes Hagson of Sweden. He is acting much like an astronaut on the International Space Station, running experiments for researchers in more comfortable but less interesting environments and recording the data for analysis.