New Windracers drones for Antarctica: NORCE buys two ULTRA MK1s
As part of a new partnership, Windracers is providing the Norwegian research institute NORCE with two new ULTRA MK1 drones. From the 2026/2027 season, they will be used at the Norwegian Troll Station in Antarctica to support research.
The International Polar Year 2032-2033 is approaching and the Norwegian Troll Research Station in Dronning Maud Land in the Antarctic aims to be well equipped by then. As part of the extensive Troll Observing Network (TONe) infrastructure project, the Norwegian research institute NORCE, one of TONe’s partners, has acquired two new generation Windracers ULTRA MK1 drones from the British manufacturer Windracers, as announced on September 17. The state-of-the-art drones, which have a range of 1000 kilometers and a flight time of up to ten hours, will support the research conducted at the Troll station and will be available to Norwegian and international researchers.
With the Windracers ULTRA MK1 drones, the Troll Station will be equipped with an important new platform that enables data collection over a large area, which is crucial for understanding regional changes and their significance for global climate change. The drones will be used in four of the eight TONe observatories: the Fimbulisen Ice Shelf Observatory (FIO), the Atmospheric Composition Observatory (ACO), the Seabird Monitoring Observatory (SMO), and the Multidisciplinary Ocean Moored Observatory (MOMO). They will contribute to the collection of important data on the ice shelf, the atmosphere, marine ecology and seabirds. The use of powerful drones is necessary in order to obtain important data from a larger area in East Antarctica, emphasizes Rune Storvold, Senior Vice President of the Observing Systems department at NORCE, in an interview with Polar Journal AG.
NORCE contributes its immense knowledge and experience in the development of sensors and their integration into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as the Windracers ULTRA.
Wide range of applications
The drones, equipped with various scientific instruments, will be able to collect a broad range of data in a region that has so far received little research attention. The core components are the two radar systems, which allow researchers to precisely measure the amount of snow and ice in the area.
The low-frequency radar will enable researchers to determine the thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet, providing information on melting, snow accumulation, and the flow rate of the ice masses from the plateau to the coast, explains Rune Storvold. The higher frequency ultra-wideband radar will be used to measure the snow thickness above the ice and reconstruct precipitation patterns from the past 20 to 50 years. “The aim is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the overall mass balance of snow and ice in the region,” says Storvold.
Additionally, the drones will be equipped with hyperspectral sensors to visually capture primary production and potentially even krill or copepods in the nutrient-rich coastal waters of the Southern Ocean. They will also be used to measure the algae concentration in the snow, which influences the albedo.
“In addition, krill fishing has increased in this area. So we will be looking at the impact and sustainability of these activities, for example with regard to krill,” says Storvold.
Finally, cameras will be used to help monitor seabirds, marine mammals and sea ice.
Not the first time in Antarctica
The new generation ULTRA MK1 drones are the successor to the “TD” version, which was successfully deployed on a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) mission in Antarctica in January 2024.
“In addition to the collection of a wealth scientific data about the Antarctic – observations including visual and hyperspectral imagery, atmospheric turbulence data, and gravity and magnetic data – Windracers and BAS successfully demonstrated that large Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can play a significant role in Antarctic data collection working alongside crewed aviation to build understanding of Antarctica and other remote locations with extreme climate conditions,” Stephen Krajewski, Director of Marketing at Windracers, tells us in an email.
Small drones, which generally fly within visual line of sight, are now frequently used to collect scientific data. In contrast, larger drones with fixed wings, which are designed to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), have not been routinely used to date.
“BAS, using Windracers ULTRA, demonstrated that long-distance, heavy-lift UAVs could indeed play an effective role. During the project, all Windracers ULTRA science missions were carried out BVLOS and were up to 2¼ hours/260 km long, including coordination with and operation alongside crewed aircraft,” says Krajewski, further explaining, “Today, Windracers utilizes the next generation of ULTRA called ‘MK1’ and NORCE will utilize MK1 generation ULTRAs. Generation MK1 was improved over the TD generation in the areas of serviceability, range (over 200% increase), manufacture and operations.”
Unlike the BAS mission earlier this year, where Windracers operated the ULTRA as a service for BAS, NORCE will have its own dedicated three-person team responsible for operating the drones.
Preparations and initial tests
Windracers and NORCE are currently working on integrating the radar systems, which will be permanently installed in the drones before their delivery to NORCE in March 2025. The next step will be training, testing and calibration of the systems as well as the installation of additional instruments, which will be trialled in Norway in the spring and summer. The drones are scheduled for shipment to the Troll Station in late fall 2025 and will arrive by the end of the season in February 2026. Initial flights in January 2027 will collect test data sets for the various observatories in order to validate the data and calibrate the instruments.
The next generation of drones will not be long in coming: “Windracers is currently working on Windracers ULTRA MK2 which will increase aircraft power and payload. Windracers ULTRA MK2 will include numerous advancements to the aircraft as well as the mission control and autopilot software,” says Krajewski. Once the current test phase has been completed, Windracers intends to officially launch the ULTRA MK2 at the end of the year.
The partnership between NORCE and Windracers demonstrates how innovative drone technology combined with state-of-the-art sensors can expand the possibilities of polar research. With the ability to penetrate remote and hard-to-reach areas, the ULTRA MK1 drones will make crucial contributions to the understanding of Antarctica’s climate and ecosystems. The Troll Station will thus be well prepared for the International Polar Year 2032-2033.
Julia Hager, Polar Journal AG
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