20 years in Antarctica

Written by Copernical Team Monday, 15 December 2025 12:36

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For two decades, ESA has sent a medical doctor to brave the cold and more for 13 months at Concordia station in Antarctica, one of the most remote places on Earth. This unique environment – isolated, confined and extreme – mirrors many of the psychological and physiological challenges astronauts face in space. By studying life at Concordia, scientists can better understand these effects, develop countermeasures and prepare for future human missions beyond Earth.

Behind the lab coat

What does it take to spend a year at Concordia? ESA selects one medical doctor annually to live and work far away from their home in this extreme environment, running biomedical research on themselves and on the small winter crew. The selection process is rigorous, and reminiscent of astronaut recruitment. In fact, two members of ESA’s astronaut reserve have wintered over at Concordia station: Carmen Possnig in 2017 and Meganne Christian in 2018.

Candidates must hold a medical degree, have laboratory experience, be in excellent health and pass medical and psychological tests. They also need to speak English and be a citizen of an ESA Member State. Additional skills help, such as fluency in French or Italian, a background or interest in space, multicultural experience and familiarity with remote environments and adventurous challenges.

The selection and preparation of a Concordia doctor spans an entire year. Applications open in December, followed by interviews and tests in spring. In May, a panel from ESA, IPEV and PNRA selects the doctor, who then begins training at ESA’s ESTEC site in the Netherlands.

Preparation continues during the summer across Europe, including a week of outdoor rescue training in the French Alps and meeting with the science teams organising the experiments for Antarctica.

After summer, the doctor meets the winterover crew at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre, continues preparing for their experiments, and collects pre-baseline data from all crew members to enable comparisons of their health before and after their stay in Concordia. By November, the crew departs for Antarctica, just as the selection process for the next doctor begins.