Thirteen Chinese scientists successfully reached the summit of the Mount Qomolangma in Southwest China’s Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region on May 23, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Thirteen Chinese scientists successfully reached the peak of the Mount Qomolangma on Tuesday in Southwest China’s Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, with the world’s highest automatic meteorological station successfully upgraded on Tuesday. 

The scientists made it to the peak at around 12:30 pm on Tuesday, the second time a Chinese expedition to Mount Qomolangma reached an altitude above 8,000 meters since 2022.

A number of cutting-edge technologies have been applied in China’s Peak Mission expedition by a total of 170 scientists who are conducting research on water, ecology and other activities during the 2023 expedition to the Mount Qomolangma, as part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The scientists successfully upgraded the world’s highest automatic meteorological station at the altitude of 8,830 meters above sea level around Tuesday noon and the data from the station successfully transmitted to the Mount Qomolangma base camp at the altitude of 5,200 meters above sea level at 12:20 pm on Tuesday. 

At 3 am on Tuesday, a group of 13 scientists forming the expedition team set off from the 8,300-meter high camp at Mount Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West. After an 8-hour climb, they reached the world’s highest automatic weather observation station at 8,830 meters above sea level around 11 am. 

The team secured the fixed steel ropes, replaced batteries, and installed a wind speed and direction sensor at the station. After approximately one hour of work, the scientists successfully completed the maintenance and upgrade of the automatic weather station.

In response to the power supply challenges that are faced by instruments and equipment in extremely high-altitude regions, the expedition team collaborated with researchers responsible for the power system of the lunar exploration project, and successfully applied the power supply system technology used on the moon to the high-altitude area, and solved the three critical problems of extremely low temperature, extremely low air pressure and self-starting of power supply protection for instruments and equipment at extreme altitudes.

At present, automatic weather stations at 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters on Mount Qomolangma have completed their technical upgrades. 

Global Times