Frequently Asked Questions

Future USAP is a part of the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), run by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Future USAP is dedicated to long range investments in facilitating science spread across the three permanent United States Antarctic Program permanent stations: McMurdo, Palmer, and South Pole. This includes support of USAP's scientific mission through a series of redevelopments and upgrades to the buildings, logistics and technology that make up these stations. Additional information about Future USAP is also available.

This site is intended to serve as an organizational and information-sharing tool for all stakeholders in USAP and the support of Antarctic science, including:

• General public
• NSF Scientific grant-recipients
• Other U.S. government agencies:
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
• Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica (Operation DEEP FREEZE) (U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, Navy, and Coast Guard)
• Personnel of the Antarctic Support Contract (ASC)
• Fixed wing and helicopter providers
• Other stakeholders within the U.S. National Science Foundation

The purpose of this site is not to directly share research or scientific information, but instead focus on the support of science in Antarctica through ongoing construction, equipment, information technology, and logistics.

Engaging Our Community offers more information on the purpose of this site.

The goal of the Future USAP website is to evolve over time to cover a progressively broader range of topics and stations. The starting point for much of work in the coming years is a major infrastructure investment in McMurdo Station. As such, much of our current content focuses on this topic.

In the coming weeks and months, we will expand our site to include more information on Palmer and South Pole Stations, as well as information on upcoming projects that more directly impact information technology, fleet/vehicles, ECW gear, and logistics. If you have specific requests, please contact us.

USAP.gov has information on current operations and logistics.

Once construction has begun, our goal is to minimize impact on research facilities. When it is determined to be necessary, every attempt will be made to relocate science activities – either temporarily or permanently – to reduce or eliminate any major disruptions. In addition, NSF intends to schedule and complete as much construction work as possible during winter months, when station populations are smaller and fewer scientific activities are taking place to reduce construction conflicts.

A Master Plan is a plan that describes and maps an overall development concept for a community or region. Each Master Plan is our framework for the redevelopment of each individual station in Antarctica.

A major component of each Master Plan is the solicitation of feedback from major stakeholders in the scientific and government communities. This helps us better understand key workflows, equipment and spatial requirements, physical constraints, and zoning considerations for the project. A completed Master Plan will typically contain details of building sites, infrastructure routing, roads and pedestrian walkways, and an overall anticipated timeline, if available.

A Master Plan is valuable since it provides a visual representation of the current station or community and a plan for the future, as well as the steps necessary to get there. A Master Plan also gathers together diverse values and viewpoints, combines them into a unified approach, and then assimilates the results into a building program. To that end, a Master Plan represents the combined needs and efforts of all major stakeholders. Once the Master Plan is complete, it can be used as a tool to quickly inform project participants about future plans while also garnering support from executives who control funding.

The McMurdo Master Plan establishes the framework of the McMurdo station. AIMS is the overarching project that will take some or all of the work described in the Master Plan, as well as other development projects, to the next level of design and through construction.

Hundreds of people have provided input into the Master Plans. NSF, the grantee community, current and former support staff, and ancillary support agencies have all provided requirements and ideas for improvement. Input was solicited through several phases: a stage known as Charrettes (intense planning sessions), formal review meetings, and several weeks of requirements gathering exercises at McMurdo and stateside locations.

A main focus of the Master Plan is to optimize the logistical and operational efficiency with which McMurdo operates. This will be accomplished through more efficient work-center locations, consolidation of material storage, and much shorter utility runs. The completed plan will result in greater centralization, less reliance on vehicular transport, and high-density storage with modern racking systems to optimize the space needed for materials.

The Master Plan promotes scalability and flexibility to ensure accommodation of a wide ranging and diverse set of scientific requirements. This means that buildings are designed with the ability to be re-configured as new science requirements emerge. Spaces proposed within the Master Plan and subsequent documentation will accommodate a diverse range of scientific activities, scopes, and sizes.

Design as presented in the Master Plan is conceptual only. Building envelope development, mechanical systems, and construction materials will all be vetted through the architectural design process. Tools for energy modeling, traffic-flow modeling, and snow drifting/deposition modeling will be used to ensure the architectural “feel” of the buildings compliments the reality of McMurdo's environment.

NSF is committed to reducing the carbon footprint during the re-development of McMurdo station. Additional wind turbines, solar panels, and other alternative energy sources such as micro-turbines and waste-to-energy options will be considered and incorporated to the extent that technology, cost and reliability will allow.

Questions and/or inputs can be sent to us via the Contact Us. form