China's icebreaker and research vessel Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, set off on Thursday from Shanghai for the country's 31st voyage to Antarctica, Xinhua News Agency reported.
One of the missions for the expedition is to build a base station for the BeiDou navigation satellite system. The facility will provide technical and data support to the satellite system and benefit Antarctic surveys and mapping, said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration.
Another important goal of the voyage is to select the site and conceive plans for China's own airfield near its Zhongshan research facility. The airstrip will serve the country's fixed-wing aircraft, which will facilitate transportation to the continent.
The planned air transportation facility is part of China's efforts to boost its exploration of the remotest locations of the globe. It will enable a significantly more efficient conveyance of materials and hasten emergency response, according to the report.
For the longest time, research teams have had to depend on maritime transportation, which has seriously "affected the ability of scientific exploration," a previous report said.
On this latest voyage by Xue Long, which will last 163 days, 281 personnel from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey are boarded.
This team of scientists will study local ecosystems, survey and map the locality, observe changes in ice and snow conditions, and perform geomagnetic survey at China's research stations, including the Great Wall, Zhongshan and Kunlun.
Research focusing on hydrology, meteorology, marine geology, marine biology and other areas will be performed in the Southern Ocean.