Noosfera supports Palmer

The Ukrainian ice-strengthened research vessel at Palmer in late January

As NSF has retired the Gould from the US Antarctic program, they've reached out for other maritime support including for Palmer Station. Such an agreement was reached with the Ukrainian program, which has operated the nearby Vernadsky station since it (formerly Faraday) was formally acquired from the British Antarctic Survey in February 1996.

After arriving at Vernadsky for the first time this season on 3 January 2025, Noosfera, after a trip to Punta Arenas, served as a marine research platform around Palmer Station for several days in late January, before it took some of the summer folks north to Punta Arenas by way of Vernadsky.

The Ukrainian flag being flown during the Noosfera visit.

Noosfera at the pier. This appears to be a webcam photo.

Below...when it came time for Noosfera to leave Palmer, an iceberg blocked the pier, so the outgoing folks had to head for the vessel in Zodiacs. One of these people was Ken Keenan, who took the two photos below.

Heading for the ride home. For obvious reasons,
Noosfera won't see its home port any time soon.

Approaching the boarding ladder.

The vessel made at least one more visit to Palmer to take the last of the summer folks north...leaving Palmer on 12 April.

The Noosfera is the former British Antarctic support vessel James Clark Ross. It was sold to the National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine in August 2021. Their 1 February 2025 page here is the source of the top 3 photos above. More information and vessel statistics from Wikipedia. This was the vessel's fourth Antarctic season for Ukraine, as described in this 13 December 2024 Ukrainian Shipping Magazine article. On 10 May 2025 the vessel returned to its temporary home port of Cape Town after successfully completing 5 round trips to Antarctica (12 May Ukrinform article).