Aurora Borealis (icebreaker)


Aurora Borealis is a proposed European research icebreaker, comparable to the world's strongest icebreakers, planned jointly by a consortium of fifteen participant organizations and companies from ten European nations. If built, she would be the largest icebreaker ever built as well as the first icebreaker built to the highest IACS ice class, Polar Class 1.
The unique feature of the proposed vessel is its ability to perform scientific deep sea drilling in a sea ice covered ocean. The ship is proposed to have an operational lifetime of 35 to 40 years, with the main area of operations being the inner Arctic Ocean.

History and background

The planning for the vessel started in 2002. The project is coordinated by the European Polar Board, an expert board of the European Science Foundation.
In March 2007 the BMBF funded the preparations for Aurora Borealis, the Helmholtz Association center Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research hosted this project.
In 2010, the German Council of Science and Humanities stopped to support the planning which made the future of the 800-million-euro ship, designed by Schiffko, uncertain. The project has been delayed, and a slightly smaller and cheaper version, Aurora Slim, has been suggested by the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic.

Aurora Slim

The most prominent change from Aurora Borealis to Aurora Slim is that the insulated drilling rig is no longer present. The scientist have to rely on a mobile system and shallower boreholes of a few hundred metres instead of more than. She will also have only a single moon pool instead of two as in the original concept.
Like the original concept, the vessel is designed to break level ice up to in thickness. However, the dynamical positioning system of the smaller vessel consists of three 15MW azimuth thrusters and two 3.5MW bow thrusters instead of three fixed propeller shafts with 27MW propulsion motors and six 4.5MW rectractable transverse thrusters. The number and output of generating sets has also been reduced.

Participants

The participants in the Aurora Borealis project are listed in the following table.
ParticipantCountry of origin
European Science FoundationESFFrance
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar und Marine Research in the Helmholtz AssociationAWIGermany
Consiglio Nazionale delle RicercheCNRItaly
Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in AntartidePNRAItaly
Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique - Institut National des sciences L’UniversCNRS-INSUFrance
Arctic and Antarctic Research InstituteAARIRussia
Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile VictorIPEVFrance
Merentutkimuslaitos MTLFinland
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchNWONetherlands
University of BergenUIBNorway
Bundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungBMBFGermany
Fonds National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFNRSBelgium
Bulgarian Antarctic InstituteBAIBulgaria
Fundația Antarctică RomânăFARRomania
Aker Arctic Technology IncAARCFinland