10.10.2025
Airbus is one of the technical sponsors of Under Antarctica, the first snow-kiting expedition supporting polar research with glaciologist Heïdi Sevestre and polar explorer Matthieu Tordeur. From November 2025 to February 2026, Airbus technologies will support the explorers with maps for navigating on the ice and satcom services for communication and data transmission from Antarctica.
The Under Antartica story
On 3 November, 2025, the scientific expedition Under Antarctica set out on a journey. Heidi Sevestre, glaciologist and Matthieu Tordeur, polar explorer, will travel 4,000 km across Antarctica, on a mission to conduct scientific research on how the polar continent is responding to climate change. Airbus is proud to support this expedition with its space technologies for mapping and connectivity, helping advance both exploration and climate research.
On the Under Antarctica expedition, Heïdi Sevestre leads the scientific program. She pilots the ground-penetrating radar to collect the history of the snow cover down to the bedrock, a demanding task that gave the expedition its name: Under Antarctica. Heïdi Sevestre teaches Glaciology at the Svalbard University Centre in Norway and participates in scientific missions to collect samples and measure snow pollution in Greenland, Spitzberg and also on the tropical glaciers of Uganda.
After more than two months of effort and 2,700 kilometers covered by kite-skiing, Heidi and Matthew reached the American Amundsen-Scott Station, located at the geographic South Pole. Their first act was to reach the "ceremonial" South Pole: a pylon topped with its metal sphere, surrounded by the flags of the countries that signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959.
Heidi Sevestre and Matthieu Tordeur continue their ascent towards 90° South latitude by snowkiting. They are currently approaching the 75th parallel, have reached an altitude of 3000 meters, and the nighttime temperature is -28°C. They have left the mountainous region and are entering the vast white expanse with only a single horizon line.
In 2019, Matthieu Tordeur became the youngest explorer in the world and the first Frenchman to reach the South Pole on skis, solo and without resupply, earning a place in the Guinness World Records. Since then, he has taken part in — and organised — numerous expeditions to both Poles. He has experimented with various modes of transport for other expeditions: sailing, running, skiing, kayaking, driving a Renault 4L, and packrafting, before specialising in snowkiting for his expeditions with Heidi Sevestre.
The Under Antarctica expedition is approaching the point on the frozen continent that lies furthest from any ocean, and where the world's coldest year-round average temperature has been recorded at −58.2°. The Southern Pole of Inaccessibility is the site of an old soviet station established in 1958, located 878 km from the South Pole. This remote region remains largely unstudied, and the expedition is collecting invaluable data on snow-layer accumulation using ground-penetrating radar.
After a 42-day expedition and nearly 1,800 kilometers traveled, Heidi and Matthew reached one of the most remote places on the planet: the South Pole of Inaccessibility, a point calculated at the time as the furthest from any Antarctic coastline.
On this first major leg of the Under Antarctica expedition, a face emerged from the ice: that of Lenin.
A video explains the reason for the presence of the bust of the statesman who founded the USSR at this abandoned polar station.
Crossing the Antarctic continent
Science in snow-kiting
Over 90 days, at -50°C and covering 3,650 km, the snow-kiting expedition opens up a new way to take ground measurements under extreme conditions but with a low impact on the environment. The goal is to delve into the recent and very old ice layers to understand how Antarctica reacted to past natural temperature changes, so as to better anticipate the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise. Towed by the explorers, two ground-penetrating radars will continuously take measurements of the ice thickness along the entire route.
A snow-kiting expedition to support polar research
Airbus technologies in Antarctica
Airbus is providing mapping and connectivity, a Sentinel-2 mosaic of the route will be used to identify terrain difficulties and avoid crevasses. These maps are produced from satellite images and they were tested during the 2024 Greenland expedition. Airbus equipped the explorers with communication and data transmission equipment for remote communication, rescue, regular transfer of information, photos, and video from Antarctica to the scientific and educational communities supporting this adventure.
Heïdi Sevestre and Matthieu Tordeur equipped for the ice
Connect by Under Antarctica
Under Antarctica is a low-carbon impact exploration aimed at raising awareness about the challenges of melting ice. Films, posts, and educational programs are planned to support the outreach efforts on the consequences for the future of the Earth and human civilizations.
