Aurora Expeditions has announced that NASA astronomer, Dr. Michelle Thaller and NASA Engineer, Dr. Andrew Booth, will be joining its total “Solar Eclipse in Antarctica 2021” voyage as special guests.

Assistant Director for Science Communication at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, Dr. Thaller will share knowledge she has acquired over 20 years of research with guests in the form of onboard lectures. Dr. Thaller will also conduct a series of talks alongside Dr. Booth, a lead engineer on NASA’s WSFIRST mission to unravel the secrets of dark energy and matter.

“The extreme environment of Antarctica is used by NASA to simulate places as far away as Mars and the moons of Jupiter, and we promise to take the passengers along for a scientific journey they’ll never forget,” said Dr. Thaller. 

NASA Engineer, Dr. Booth, continued: “At this moment in history, world-class science is converging in Antarctica. From the changing ice of our planet, to extreme environments that simulate extra-terrestrial worlds, to observatories buried under the ice to detect the deaths of stars millions of years ago, to long dark nights that allow astronomers to peer to the edge of the known universe; Antarctica is where it’s all happening now.”

The eclipse is rarely visible from Antarctica but in the early hours of Dec. 4, 2021, Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer will be perfectly positioned in the Weddell Sea to observe it.