The team will celebrate and communicate the scientific and exploration success of the expedition, which reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 2024, achieving two historical scientific measurements: the Northernmost sampling of cosmic radiation and the measurement of ice thickness at the North Pole.
The event will be the opportunity to launch the European itinerary of the expedition, which is set to reach the South Pole in January 2025.Please RSVP by the 2nd of June, 2024, to
on Sunday, June 2, from 18:00 to 20:00
at Fram – The Polar Exploration Museum
Bygdøynesveien 39 | 0286 Oslo
Programme
18:15Welcome Adress: Petter Johannesen
Video highlights of the Transglobal Car Expedition
18:25Introduction and Moderation of the Event
Paola Catapano
18:40The conquest of the North Pole
Transglobal car expedition members: Vasily Skhakhnovskiy, Andrew Comrie-Picard, Vasily Elagin, Maxim Badulin, Alexei Safonov
19:00The Transglobal Car Expedition Science Programme
Ice Thickness
Video message by Christian Haas
Explanations Paola Catapano
Satellite Guidance
ASI and ESAgroundproofing of satellite intelligence and polar navigation
Paola Catapano, Fabrizio Bernardini
The northernmost Cosmic Ray Measurement
James Devine
Donation of the Nansen Cosmic Ray detector to Geir Klover, the Fram Museum director
19:20Citizen Science
Rosy Mondardini
19:30 What's Next?
The European itinerary on the tracks of historical polar explorers
19:40World First Record AchievementAwards and Group Photo
19:45Conclusions and Q/A
Speakers Profiles
Vasiliy Skhakhnovskiy, the expedition Leader and a professional mountaineer, has embarked on an ambitious round-the-world journey across both poles by car, without leaving the Earth's surface. His motivation is to set a lasting example for his sons, children, and grandchildren. To achieve this goal, Vasiliy initiated the expedition in collaboration with Alex Abramov.
Maxime Artamonov
Maxim Artamonov is an entrepreneur and global citizen with a passion for wildlife. He has held founding and executive roles in various business associations and a philanthropic foundation. Maxim's dedication extends to re-wilding initiatives in the Caucasus, preserving cultural and historical archives in Switzerland, providing life-saving medical attention to children in Ukraine and Russia, and enabling education in Ugandan communities. Currently, he is facilitating a north and south pole expedition and sponsoring students from remote communities worldwide to join a citizen science forum at CERN.
Maxim Badulin
Maxim Badulin is a professional cameraman and photographer, and an avid globetrotter. He has participated in numerous extreme projects and was involved in all three test drives for this expedition. His primary responsibility is to document the expedition through photo and video, creating compelling media content from the collected materials. Beyond his media role, Maxim was a full participant in the expedition’s activities, driving Emelya and cutting ice. When Anton Ershov’s FPV drone was lost, Maxim became the sole drone pilot, providing critical aerial survey data to navigate through hummocks. His efforts were crucial to the expedition's timely arrival on the shores of Greenland, playing a key role in its success.
Fabrizio Bernardini
Fabrizio Bernardini is a freelance system engineer specialising mainly in spacecraft avionics system. He is the operations manager of the SHARAD instrument on-board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. With a mixed hardware and software background, he participates also in projects which apply different technologies to science, cultural heritage, geodesy and aviation. As a Fellow and Council Member of the British Interplanetary Society, he manages education and outreach activities in the space sector.
Paola Catapano
Paola Catapanois a professional science communicator, currently leading CERN's Editorial Content Production team. She began her career at CERN in 1990, working with Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia, and later directed the Visitor, Events, and Exhibitions Service. With a master’s in science journalism, she has produced over 40 documentaries for RAI, covering significant events such as the LHC milestones and expeditions to both poles. In 2018, she led the Polarquest2018 Arctic research expedition, which held the previous record for studying cosmic rays at the northernmost latitude as well as holding the record for the northernmost studies of microplastics.
Andrew Comrie-Picard
Andrew Comrie-Picard is a professional driver, broadcaster, and producer. Since 2004, Andrew has hosted and produced television shows about cars and automotive events, including Top Gear USA on History and other shows on Discovery and Netflix. His last Arctic adventure was in 2016 during the ALCAN5000 rally, extending to Tuktoyaktuk before the connector road was built. Andrew was an active participant in all expedition activities, from driving Emelya to chipping ice. His humour, friendliness, and sincerity made him a valuable member of the Transglobal team.
Christian Haas
Christian Haas is a Professor of Sea Ice Geophysics and Remote Sensing at the University of Bremen, Germany. Christian's research is on the role of sea ice in the climate, ecosystem and for humans. He has pioneered electromagnetic ice thickness measurements which can be carried out from moving vehicles and aircraft. With these, he has observed the variability and change of sea ice in the Arctic and Northwest Passage for more than 20 years and has travelled 1000s of kilometres by snowmobile to survey the remote straits and sounds of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
James Devine
Cosmic Rays Detector Wizard James, an Electrical Engineer at CERN, started the CosmicPi project - a DIY cosmic ray detector. He’s looking for citizen scientists to build and operate detector pixels in their homes, connected through the internet. Data collected will be shared and analyzed by amateur and professional scientists. James loves making cool things and has experience in designing electrical systems. He’s also launched balloons to the edge of space and built robotic arms based on Arduino. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, skiing, and programming in Processing and Python.
Vasily Elagin
Vasily Elagin is the head and organiser of the MLAE expedition and the chief designer of the "Emelya" cars. Vasily has conquered Everest, Cho Oyu, and the Kanchenjunga traverse in the Himalayas, as well as Aconcagua in South America and the Vinson Massif in Antarctica. His Arctic car expeditions inspired the creation of a vehicle capable of reaching the North Pole. In March 2008, Vasily successfully drove "Emelya" to the northernmost point of Severnaya Zemlya, and in 2009, led a team from the North Earth to the North Pole in "Emelya-1" and "Emelya-2." Known for his strong, authoritative leadership, Vasily's dedication and engineering prowess have been crucial to his expeditionary successes.
Petter Johannesen
Petter Johannesen, diplomat and business leader, began his career in international marketing before transitioning to represent Norwegian interests in Italy for over a decade. Recognized for his contributions, he holds titles of Knight and Commander of the Italian Republic. He has also served as Secretary General of the Union of Foreign Chamber of Commerce in Italy and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Namibia for Northern Italy. Active in various associations, Johannesen has authored works and led expeditions, including the Arctic Expedition OLTRE Beyond the Edge 2008/2009. Until his retirement in 2019, he held the position of Key Account for ENI at Aker Solutions and continues to offer consultancy services in Italian/Norwegian affairs.
Rosy Mondardini
Rosy has a background in physics and worked for more than 15 years in research and science communication in the US (FERMILAB) and Switzerland (CERN). She then moved to the World Economic Forum to estabish and manage the Young Global Leaders Alumni community, an invaluable experience of community engagement that motivated her to focus on science for social change, particularly Citizen Science. In 2015 she became Co-Director of the Citizen Cyberlab in Geneva, a partnership between CERN, UNITAR, and University of Geneva. She is currently the Director of Research and Development at Citizen Science Zurich, a joint effort of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Her role in POLARQUEST is to enable powerful collaborations between researchers and citizens, taking advantage of global expeditions to engage society with unique and fascinating research opportunities.
Alexei Safonov
Alexei Safonov is a distinguished extreme sportsman with extensive experience as a snowboarder, kitesurfer, glider pilot, mountaineer, yachtsman, and volleyball player. Alexei has undertaken numerous expeditions, including ascents of Everest and ventures to both the North and South Poles. Alexei's expertise includes mastery of complex knots and a high level of proficiency as a rigger. His participation in this expedition was a natural choice, given his exceptional skills and dependable nature.
Zurab Sanikidze
Zurab has 30 years of experience in logistics and construction, having worked in remote areas of Canada and other parts of the world. He is a prize-winner of the Spartakiad, a multiple medalist of the National Swimming Championships, a two-time champion in military-applied all-around, winner of the national cup, and a finalist of the Championship.
Contacts
Press contact: pr@transglobalcar.com
Museum contact: Geir O. Kløver | + 47 23 28 29 50
