ESA-sponsored medical doctor Beth Healey at the Concordia station in Antarctica. Beth monitored five experiments that are helping to prepare for long-duration missions to explore our Solar System. Living in Concordia is similar in many ways to living in space, where crews are cut off from the world without normal sunlight and live in reduced pressure – Concordia station lies 3200 m above sea level.
From searching for life that could survive in these extreme conditions to monitoring how the crew of 13 interact and cope with living in close quarters, Beth had her hands full as the crew maintain the station and perform Antarctic science for the French and Italian polar institutes.