Chapter 3

Introduction to the Antarctica Life Support Facility Case Study ¹

“There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for, and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

“There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

Douglas Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe,
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, vol. II

Antarctica, or rather the Antarctica Life Support Facility that will be discussed over the following chapters, serves as a foundation for teaching systems engineering. In creating and publishing this case study, we have two main aims:

– to illustrate the systems engineering approach using an attractive, sufficiently complex and representative case study; and

– to use this study as a pretext to stimulate reflection on certain notions or concepts of systems engineering, some of which seem, to us, to have taken a wrong turning in the past.

We shall therefore approach this case study from two perspectives, that of supply and that of acquisition. We will show the journey from an initial idea to fulfillment in engineering terms, i.e. the definition of the solution, without going as far as the development or creation/production of this solution. We offer a general approach, indications and recommendations on activities to carry out, and we shall present certain techniques and methods to be used. However, we shall not cover the case in its entirety; our aim is not to provide a lesson or a worked-out example, but rather a framework for reflection. Consequently, the responses or solutions we propose throughout this case study as illustrations of the application of various engineering activities should not be taken as points of reference. We make no claim to provide exhaustive coverage of the subject or that our study is free from incoherency or approximations.

We would like our treatment of the Antarctica Life Support Facility to act as a framework to allow readers to appropriate the systems engineering approach, for example, for themselves. This should help readers to adopt a particular attitude and state of mind in order to obtain a “good” solution to a complex problem, i.e. the optimal solution satisfying expressed expectations and needs. The reader will find examples of activities to carry out, their interrelations and dependences, and a nonexhaustive set of methods and techniques to use in carrying out these activities. Once again, we do not aim to provide a complete overview of methods and techniques, and this work is not intended to serve as an encyclopedia. Our objective is to offer suggestions and direct our readers towards the techniques practiced and taught by the authors, that they judge to be relevant and effective.

The treatment of this case study will take a narrative form. Whether from the perspective of acquisition or supply, activities are carried out by individuals, with their own convictions and doubts, who may find themselves in disagreement with other individuals. In taking this approach, we aim to offer a lively and pleasant reading experience, while affirming our own strong conviction that – above and beyond techniques, methods and tools – the engineer is, and should remain, at the center of the approach. Systems engineering should be, first and foremost, a state of mind and an attitude taken when dealing with complexity.

3.1. Why Antarctica?

There are a number of reasons for our choice of Antarctica, most of which are linked to the pedagogic approach we wish to take. The Antarctica Life Support Facility appears, to us, to be a case study that is both complete and non-naïve. It allows us to give a concrete illustration of all concepts, methods and techniques involved in a subject that is sufficiently unusual in nature to force us to create our own responses, not by imitation or a “copy/paste/adapt” approach, but through the use of reason alone.

More specifically:

– the specificities of different stages of the lifecycle of the Antarctica Life Support Facility (such as launch, dismantling, etc.) necessitate particular and specific analyses, and their omission would certainly lead to the production of an inadequate solution. This point cannot, under any circumstances, be avoided;

– the Antarctica Life Support Facility is both a system and itself a sub-system of an “over-system”, clearly demonstrating the non-separable and recursive nature of the systems concept;

– humans are involved both as users and organic components of the solution. The execution of system missions, and therefore the achievement of aims, takes place either in an automatic or autonomous manner (drones, space probes, etc.) or, more often, in a manual or semi-automatic manner, involving humans in the loop;

– use in a distant and hostile operational environment with no easy means of intervention necessarily has an impact on:

– major time constraints (narrow and fixed window for mission completion: the Antarctic summer) have a strong influence on planning and the technical, contractual and industrial management of the project.

In addition to these purely technical and pedagogic reasons, the choice of Antarctica allows us to place this case study in a context involving environmental issues with a dimension of human adventure.

3.2. Fictional context of the study

3.2.1. The Antarctica mission

The “Origins of Terrestrial Life” laboratory (OTL laboratory, for the rest of the book), operating from a scientific campus in Toulouse, France, has been involved in studying the origins of life on Earth for a number of years, addressing questions linked to the way and conditions in which life appeared, among other things. In this context, the study of the polar ice caps provides particularly interesting data. As ice is formed in a regular manner, we may connect the depth at which a core is taken from the ice cap with a specific point in time. Moreover, by imprisoning various particles, the polar ice cap acts as a museum of our history, conserving precious relics of bygone eras by fixing them in time [EPI 07]. Numerous, real, scientific projects have been carried out in this domain within the field of glaciology. Examples include EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica, [CEA 06, [ESF 10]) carried out at the dome C site, using the Franco-Italian Concordia base infrastructure that has provided considerable inspiration for this work. This project was awarded the Prix Descartes in 2008 [EPI 08]. In our case study, the glaciology mission serves merely as a pretext. We do, however, wish to express our admiration for the remarkable scientific work carried out by glaciologists and present our apologies for the liberties we have taken with regards to their domain in this work.

The OTL laboratory has studied the possibility of deep coring in the polar ice cap. To do this, the laboratory has identified a company, HyperForage, which has developed a drilling machine, the HyperDrill, to allow the extraction of ice cores of this type in extreme polar conditions. Thanks to a European Union grant, the OTL laboratory has access to this drilling machine for a certain time and has thus decided to launch the Antarctica project. Responsibility for the project is given to Yves, mission supervisor in the OTL laboratory, who provides the following brief explanation:

“The Antarctica mission will allow us to carry out coring to extract samples from the Antarctic ice cap, then study these cores to extract data on environmental conditions at the time when life first appeared on Earth. This project will involve around 10 researchers and technicians from the OTL laboratory and a portion of the laboratory’s resources (processing centers, offices, etc.). Of course, part of the project will involve sending a team of scientists from the laboratory to an appropriate site in Antarctica (in Adélie Land) to carry out coring activities. A team of five people must therefore be operational at the chosen site over the course of three months, from February 20X (during summertime in the Southern hemisphere, and during the period of the white nights). This project will be launched in January 20Y”.

Yves then indicates the planned course of the Antarctica mission:

– establishment of the project: creation of the team, collection of information, first theoretical studies, etc.;

– acquisition of different equipment: drilling machine, life support facility, and installation of tools for the collection, sorting and processing of data, etc.;

– training of team members in the use of this material;

– transfer of part of the team to the site in Antarctica, with all necessary materials and personnel;

– on-site coring activity over a period of three months from February 1, 20X;

– dismantling of the Antarctic infrastructure;

– return to Toulouse and exploitation of the information. The first results of this study should be available by the end of 20X.

For the Antarctica project, the OTL laboratory needs to acquire the operational service of a life support facility for use from February 1, 20X to April 30, 20X.

Figure 3.1. Parametric calendar of the Antarctica mission

This life support facility must provide the following services:

– allow the team of five scientists to survive in the climatic conditions of the South Pole over a period of three months (eat, sleep, etc.);

– allow the team to successfully carry out their experiments. For this, facilities will be made available;

– allow storage of the material necessary to keep the drilling machine in working order (including the fuel), but also offer shelter for necessary maintenance or repair activities;

– allow the team to communicate with the OTL laboratory in Toulouse: telephone links and data exchanges.

3.2.2. The cast of characters

In order of appearance, from the acquisition perspective (OTL laboratory):

– Yves: head of the Antarctica mission;

– Anne: responsible for the acquisition of the life support facility: the client;

– Nathalie and Jean-François: two scientists who take part in the Antarctica mission and have already worked on other polar missions.

Individuals involved in supply (at KYN Systems):

– Roger: head of project;

– Marc: systems architect;

– Uwe: electronic and thermal architect;

– Michel: dependability engineer;

– Delphine: training and human factors engineer;

– Elisabeth: IVV architect.

3.3. Some data on the Antarctic and Adélie Land

3.3.1. Geography

Adélie Land is a narrow band of the Antarctic, forming an angular sector situated between a latitude of 67° S and the geographic South Pole (the summit of the angular sector) and from 136° 20’ E to 142° 20’ E of longitude. The total surface is around 432,000 km2. Adélie Land is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The territory harbors the Dumont d’Urville scientific research station on the île des Pétrels in the Pointe Géologie archipelago, with a permanent staff of around 30, a number that increases twofold over the summer months.

3.3.2. Climate

The climate is characterized by very low temperatures and violent winds, often carrying ice particles, known as katabatic blizzards (or “gravity winds”, so-called as they are composed of very cold air, which is therefore dense and trapped at low level, so follow the ground topography, accelerating when they move downhill). From March onwards, the sea is covered with a thin layer of ice that thickens to a depth of two meters during the winter. This sea ice makes up an ice field that covers an immense area and prevents navigation. The ice floe melts in summer, breaking into plates that drift away [IPF 10].

3.3.3. Biological patrimony

The French Southern and Antarctic Lands constitute the southernmost part of France. Generally little known, they have a biological patrimony that is often underestimated. The Antarctic is the only large, cold region of the globe that presents characteristics close to those that existed before the appearance of Man, unlike the Arctic. This biological heritage, which remains almost intact, is of considerable global importance, and France is responsible to the international community for its management.

By signing the Rio Convention in 1992, France promised to “preserve biological diversity to satisfy the needs and aspirations of future generations” by taking all necessary measures at national level. In terms of environmental protection, the country ratified the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol). This protocol was signed in Madrid in 1991 and entered into force in 1998. In France, the law of April 15, 2003 relating to environmental protection in Antarctica is an implementation of this protocol. Further precisions were included in the decree of April 25, 2005. All French activity in Antarctica and all activity of any kind in Adélie Land must now be declared or authorized.

3.3.4. Location of the life support facility

The life support facility will be located 1,000 km from the coast at an altitude of 3,300 m. This area is in total darkness from May 4 to August 13. The maximum temperature is around -48°C, with average temperatures of -60.2°C and a minimum of -78.6°C. The location of the life support facility on the continental plateau means that it is not subject to excessively violent winds, unlike the Dumont d’Urville station, which is subject to katabatic blizzards.

3.4. Bibliography

[CEA 06] CEA, “EPICA, le climat pris dans les glaces”, Les Défis du CEA, July-August 2006.

[EPI 07] INSTITUT POLAIRE, www.institutpolaire.fr/ipev/actualites/scientifiques/publications/glaces_de_l_antarctique_une_histoire_detaillee_de_notre_climat_sur_800_000_ans, 2007.

[EPI 08] INSTITUT POLAIRE, www.institut-polaire.fr/ipev/actualites/scientifiques/prix_et_medailles/le_projet_europeen_de_carottages_glaciaires_epica_recoit_le_prix_descartes _decerne_par_l_union_europeenne, 2008.

[ESF 10] ESF, EUROPEAN SCIENCE FOUNDATION, www.esf.org/activities/research-networkingprogrammes/life-earth-and-environmental-sciences-lesc/completed-esf-research-networking-programmes-in-life-earth-and-environmental-sciences/european-project-for-icecoring-in-antarctica-epica-page-1.html, 2010.

[IPF 10] IPF (International Polar Foundation), Le climat en Antarctique: le continent des extrêmes, fiche n° 7, www.educapoles.org, 2010.

1 Chapter written by Jean-Luc WIPPLER.