EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTIC

Chronicle (Levin), 7 November 1946, Page 9

EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTIC

Reeeived Wednesday, 8.20 p.m. KEW YORK, Nov. 5. Rear-Admiral Byrd will lead a Navy sponsored expedition to the Antarctic to secure ciaims to vast areas believed to contain sources of atom. energy, says the New York Herald-Tribune's Washington correspondent. Tli,e expedition is scheduled to leave in Deeember but may be delayed until February. In addition to exploring and photograpbing the Antarctic for all posSible sources of energy and fuel, the expedition will conduct comprehensive research into cosmic rays beeause the polar region's dust-free air provides ideal facilities for this purpose. An aircraft carrier is likely to participate, its planes being used for nearly all the cosmic ray research and photography. The Noxffh American Newspaper Alliance correspondent at Washington says the international race to explore the Antarctic was spurred by Sir Douglas Mawson who first discovered that the Antarctic resembles the uraniiun bearing distficts of Arctic Canada and reported to contain great deposits of uranium and great quantities of other raw materials. The six-nation race is reported to be led by a secret British 30-man expedition which has occupied buildings and taken over scientific equipment and a year's food supply left by the Byrd Expedition of 1941 at the Marguerite Bay base south of Cape Horn. Other nations interested are Chile, the Soviet, Argentina and Norway.