TARA POLAR STATION :
A new scientific hub in the Arctic
A unique observatory and laboratory
18 years after their first expedition to the North Pole aboard the schooner Tara, the Tara Ocean Foundation launched a new drifting scientific base, Tara Polar Station whose construction began in September 2023 and was completed in April 2025 by Constructions Mecaniques of Normandy in Cherbourg, France.
Tara Polar Station is an entirely new French research vessel designed to conduct scientific expeditions during transpolar drifts, frozen into the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean. Conceived and developed by the Tara Ocean Foundation, and built with the support of France as part of its Polar Strategy, as well as that of private partners, the drifting laboratory-observatory will undertake 10 expeditions, each lasting 14 à 18 months, over the next 20 years. These successive expeditions will carry out the scientific program Tara Polaris (I, II, …, X), developed by a consortium of more than 35 laboratories from 12 different countries: France (15 laboratories), Canada, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, the United States, Israel, and Japan.
Tara Polar Station contributes to the deployment in the Arctic of France’s Polar Strategy:
“Balancing the Extremes” by 2030 and was funded by the French government as part of France 2030 and by the European Union – Next Generation EU as part of the France Relance plan.
Features
A drifting polar research station
Designed by the Tara Ocean Foundation and architects Olivier Petit and Bureau Mauric, with the support of Capgemini Engineering and Albert II, Prince of Monaco
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Length
26 metres
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Width
16 metres
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Draught
3,2 metres
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Crew
12 to 18 people
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Deadweight
405 tons
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Hull thickness
20 millimetres
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Fuel capacity
130 m3 de HVO
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Autonomy
500 days
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Flag
France
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