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During a ceremony at the Princess Elisabeth Station, Sven Kerremans (Laborelec) and Jean Chalon (Schneider Electric) symbolically handed over the keys of the station's technical core to Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation. The event celebrated the completion of the final systems tests. The Princess Elisabeth Station is now officially the first research station ever to solely operate on renewable energies!

At a briefing on Friday October 16th at the headquarters of the IPF, the new season for the Princess Elisabeth Station officially started! Fourty-four people will take part in BELARE this season, staying between one and five months at Utsteinen. The objective for this year is to finalize the tests of all the technical systems of the station. Moreover, a new satellite antenna will be installed next to the station.

In collaboration with the International Polar Foundation, STIB / MIVB (Société des transports intercommunaux de Bruxelles / Maatschappij voor Intercommunaal Vervoer van Brussel) inaugurated a new Metro station in Brussels on Monday, March 23rd. This new underground station, baptised "Belgica", is a tribute to Belgian exploration in Antarctica and a reminder of the dangers of climate change.

The inauguration of the Princess Elisabeth Station on February 15th was a success and a dream come true. In the opening ceremony preceding the official inauguration, Alain Hubert reminded everyone that the International Polar Year had been the drive for Belgium's initiative to return to Antarctica in the name of science.

The 14 "First In" members of BELARE 2008-09 arrived in Utsteinen, Antarctica, safe and sound. Following a stop-over at the Russian polar station Novo, they reached the Princess Elisabeth research station on November 11th, in the late afternoon.

This year, the 30th edition of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) meeting, was co-organized with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08, with the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as co-sponsors.

A call for proposals has been launched for the first Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship (ABLEF) Award. The laureate of this award will be allocated a research fund enabling him to carry out his study proposal in, or in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctic research station.

Seven people have left on another traverse. The rest of the team is either working on the ridge, filming those working on the ridge, building new bathroom facilities or cooking away to feed the team.

Stéphane Dubois, building coordinator for the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station, returned to Belgium earlier than foreseen. Mr. Dubois, an inhabitant of the Rochefort region, was supposed to stay in Antarctica until March 9, 2008. The atmospheric conditions, particularly the extreme dryness, forced him to return prematurely: he was back in Brussels on December 21, after having spent 52 days on the white continent.

This Ivan Papanin arrived in Cape Town during the night of December 28. Unloading operations lasted through December 29. Several waste containers and a few heavy drilling pieces were brought back to Cape Town to be disposed of or stored.