Russian hosting firm RUVDS has launched an experimental data center in Antarctica.

The facility is designed for scientific research and general user access, said CEO Nikita Tsaplin.

“We expect the Antarctic location to be operational for several months, after which the equipment will be handed over free of charge to the station’s staff,” added Tsaplin.

The data center is located at Bellingshausen Station, one of Russia’s Antarctic stations, located on King George Island, a constituent part of the South Shetland Islands.

It will be operated in collaboration with the University of Maritime Practice and Arctic Tourism, as well as the aerospace lab Stratonautica.

RUVDS delivered the data center and its attendant equipment by plane from Russia to Argentina and then by sea through the Drake Passage.

Named after the English explorer Sir Francis Drake, the passage is a body of water separating the southern tip of South America from the Antarctic continent.

RUVDS revealed that it was making preparations for the project back in November 2024.

The company previously delivered a server to the Arctic. In early 2024, the company announced it would deliver a ‘data center in a box’ to the Barneo Ice Camp via an air drop from an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft.

Research stations in Antarctica have traditionally relied on satellite communications because no subsea cables land on the continent.

But newer high-speed options have become available with the launch of low-Earth orbit satellites from the likes of SpaceX's Starlink.