Sno-Cats and toasters telling stories about our changing climate

Science Museum 10 Climate Stories: Online Press Office

An historic, 2 ton, Sno-Cat is to go on show at the Science museum as part of a new display about climate change. Ten Climate Stories – a new series of exhibit interventions opens, in time for the Easter holidays, at the Science Museum on Friday 8 April. The display showcases artworks from established and emerging artists, offering new perspectives on the famous displays and reveals hidden stories behind some of the museum's best-loved exhibits.

Newly on show, the Sno-Cat was used by Sir Vivian Fuchs in the 1955–8 crossing of Antarctica with Sir Edmund Hillary. This bright-orange tracked vehicle was one of four that completed the perilous journey, along a route littered with icy ridges and treacherous crevasses.

Ten Climate Stories is part of the Museum's three-year Climate Changing programme – a series of thought-provoking events that accompanies the *atmosphere exploring climate science gallery.

David Rooney, Science Museum curator said: "Ten Climate Stories takes a long view of our climate changing world, offering a fresh take on historic inventions and everyday objects – and their impact on the world around us."

In The Toaster Project, emerging designer and Royal College of Art graduate Thomas Thwaites pulled apart the cheapest toaster he could find – and then built his own, by mining and processing all the raw materials himself and manufacturing every component. The magnificently imperfect result offers a playful yet powerful comment on consumer culture.

Longplayer, by Jem Finer, is a thousand year long piece of music that began playing on 31 December 1999. A new listening post playing this critically acclaimed work will be installed in the Museum's flagship gallery, Making the Modern World. Nearby, Yao Lu's arresting images from the New Landscapes series depict a rapidly changing world – where all is not what it seems.

Other exhibits in Ten Climate Stories include a blazing inferno in 18th-century Shropshire, the march of steel pylons across Britain's countryside, the first photograph of Earth from space, the roots of car culture in First World War America, a million-volt machine used to build an atom bomb, and a spaceship journey that changed our entire view of our world.

*The atmosphere gallery and the Climate Changing programme have been made possible by support from Principal Sponsors Shell and Siemens, Major Sponsor Bank of America Merrill Lynch, major funder the Garfield Weston Foundation, and with additional support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Patrons of the Science Museum and members of the Founders Circle: Climate Changing programme: Accenture, Bayer and Barclays

Fast frosty facts:
• The Antarctic crossing was just over 2,000 miles
• It took 99 days
• The Sno-Cat ran at 1 mile per gallon – today’s petrol cost equivalent would be nearly £9,000
• In one 100-mile stretch, Sno-Cats had to be recovered from crevasses three times.

Tucker Sno-Cat type 743, 1955
On 2 March 1958 this vehicle and three others arrived at Scott Base having travelled 2,158 miles from Shackleton base via the South Pole to complete the first motorised crossing of Antarctica. It was part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Dr (later Sir) Vivian Fuchs and its principle task was to carry the equipment for a seismic survey of the continent. Operating in temperatures down to – 70 degrees F and winds up to 40 Knots the Sno-Cats averaged 22 miles per day and 1.54mpg for the 2,158 mile journey. They carried up to 1 ton inside and hauled two sledges with up to 2 ½ tons on each.

How it works
The Sno-cat was developed c. 1948 by the Tucker Sno-Cat Corporation of Medford, Oregon, USA as a vehicle capable of traversing very soft snow to maintain telephone lines in North America. Its success stems from the unique pontoon system and the articulated steering. The vehicle floats on snow on the four flat-bottomed, sheet-steel pontoons giving a uniform ground pressure of only 0.75 lb/in2. Traction is provided by the rungs of the open ladder type tracks. The front and rear pairs of pontoons are steered in opposition to each other and this articulated steering gives much better steering than a conventional tracked vehicle, allowing full power to be maintained through a turn. It is powered by a Chrysler 200hp V-8 petrol engine driving through a manual 5-speed gearbox to standard Dodge axles fitted with short extensions which carry the pontoon outer bearings.

History
Although Amundsen had reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, there were still by 1955 some six million square miles of virtually unexplored territory in Antarctica. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was formed in 1955 to affect the first motorised crossing of the continent and to carry out a complete physical and scientific survey along the route of the crossing. Although the four commonwealth Governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa contributed £187,000 to a greater part of the cost was provided by private donations a contributions from trusts, societies and industry.

A physical survey was carried out along the route which included the polar plateau at an altitude of 8,000-10,000 ft intersected by mountain ranges up to 15,000 ft. The scientific work included a seismic survey to discover the depth of the polar ice sheet (found to be up to 8,000 feet thick) and the form of the rock surface below; a geological survey; recordings of the Earth's magnetic field; and meteorological and glaciological studies of the area.

The trans-polar party led by Dr (Later Sir) Vivian Fuchs was equipped with dog-hauled sledges and eleven tracked motor vehicles including freight sledges. They established Shackleton Base in February 1957 and after carrying out scientific work and route proving towards the Pole finally set out on the crossing on 24 November 1957. Meanwhile the New Zealand Party led by Sir Edmund Hillary established Scott Base on the other side of the Continent. Their task was to establish the final part of the route from the Pole and to set up fuel and supply dumps for the crossing party. The set out in November 1957 and reached the South Pole on 4 January 1958. Fuchs reached the Pole 15 days later and pressed on to complete the crossing on 2 March 1958, arriving at Scott Base after a journey of 2,158 miles having averaged 22 miles per day.

More details can be found on the Science Museum website http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/tenclimatestories

** Online Video/Picture desks**

Rough cut D-Roll news footage and a two minute video edit of the exhibition and the sno-cat arriving, including interviews with museum curators and artist Thomas Thwaites be available to all online media, free and without copyright.

Details on how to access the footage are below.

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