Every year, ESA sponsors a medical doctor to spend a year, or “winterover” in Concordia station. This year, our medical doctor is Jessica Kehala Studer, who is seen in this picture demonstrating the Mpemba effect, the observation that hot water freezes faster than cold water. The picture is taken by Mario Lecca, the current meteorologist at the station. Together, Jessica and Mario boiled the water and then brought it outside where it was around –70°C. As the hot water met the freezing air under the last rays of the Sun, this beautiful icy shape was formed.

Concordia is a research station in Antarctica that places you farther away from humankind than even the International Space Station. Around May, the Sun dips below the horizon for the last time, and the crew experience four months of total darkness, with temperatures dropping to –80°C in winter. The station serves as an analogue for space, mirroring the challenges and conditions faced by astronauts such as isolation, the cold and the dark, and the impact on their health. Concordia is a unique platform for conducting research in human physiology and psychology, but also astronomy, meteorology, glaciology and others.

You can follow Jessica's adventures at the station on our Concordia blog.