FACT (9/19). We used 250 kg R-PET filament, the type of plastic most commonly found in plastic bottles. The reasons for choosing PET are that it is easy to recycle and it is most compatible with the epoxy resins needed for the outer carbon layer.
(Fact 7/19) We took 126kg food for 40 days with us. We were told by a specialist that we had to eat 4500 kilocalories in order to stay warm. That is 20 BigMacs a day. It was more than we needed, but better safe than sorry, right?
...Maybe you remember it from the video. Luckily it wasn’t that bad, and we could fix it on the spot. The cause: 2 screws that were broken. There was also a rope that accidentally got stuck in our wheel, but that was fixed quickly enough too. Could've ended up worse..
(Fact 4/19) ERROR! We had two stupid but fixable mistakes. When the Solar Voyager came out of the plane and took its first steps on Antarctica, it should have been a magical moment, but we were all shocked to see what happened to the wheel construction....
...But even though we didn't reach the South Pole, we are still the first ones that drove this far on nothing but solar power. We showed that it is possible to live without fossil fuel in the harshest conditions, and that waste can be so much more than waste.
(Fact 3/19) We drove 680 km on the plateau. Our plan was go to the South Pole and back, but due to the bad weather conditions and the lack of time, we couldn’t make it.....
(Fact 2/19) We collected waste in an education program called urban mining with more than 12.000 kids. We used their plastic to build the Solar Voyager with. They loved cleaning up the city and discovering and learning about waste not being waste!
(Fact 1/19) We've used 0 fossil fuel during our expedition. We drove on solar power, and boiled water powered by the sun. You can really live fossil fuel free, even in the harshest conditions, you just have to have the desire to do it.
These are some of the fun facts of our expedition on Antarctica. The following weeks, we'll be touching on each of them separately, so stay tuned! #expediton#Antarctica#facts
This is the crew of the Morgenster for Leg 3 of our Quest for Change. With on board our own Gerie. And also Lidewij from leg 1 that is now sailing along as a crew member! Looks like it is going to be much fun! ⚓