research and development of technology for the construction of snow airfields for accommodating wheeled aircraft in antarctica

Construction of a new wintering complex at the antarctic vostok station required prompt delivery of builders and mechanics to progress station to move them further to the work area. to solve this major logistical issue, a new landing site, later named zenit, certified for accommodating heavy wheeled aircraft, was prepared in the progress station area from march to august 2022. its snow pavement slab with a total area of 350 thousand m2 is from 100 to 120 cm high. it was made by applying snow layers with their subsequent compaction by a specially designed compaction platform for snow airfields suitable for heavy wheeled aircraft. as a result, the pavement has a surface hardness of at least 1 mpa. the layer from 30 to 60 cm has a hardness of at least 0.8 mpa, and the bottom layer at least 0.6 mpa. the first il-76td-90vd aircraft of the russian company volga-dnepr was accommodated to the new runway on 7 november 2022. the aircraft landed in normal mode. the depth of the chassis wheels track after landing did not exceed 3 cm. the research provided in-depth understanding of the mechanisms for forming the supporting base of the runway from snow and ice in antarctica. the experience gained can be used to solve similar issues in the far north.