Svalbard

But I think the whole experience, just finding out that I'd need to do that when that wasn't even on my radar, because initially I thought, right, I do...

The South Pole first, then start to do Svalbard and then Greenland and then try and attempt the North Pole.

That was kind of my mind because actually that's in degrees of difficulty.

That's how it kind of is.

Maybe not Svalbard in there, but definitely because you have the icefall at the beginning and the end of Greenland, which you don't have in the Antarctic, it is trickier.

And because I did it in the autumn, it's a bit more trickier.

So I was not planning on doing anything in the Arctic until I'd done the Antarctic.

We also actually found that wintertime mindsets got more positive the farther north you went in Norway.

So looking at southern Norway, which is still quite northern by American standards, compared to Tromsø in northern Norway, compared to Svalbard, which is an Arctic island halfway between northern Norway and the North Pole, as you went farther north, people tended to appreciate and enjoy the winter more.

And we also found that having this positive wintertime mindset was associated with other measures of psychological well-being we looked at.

So it was associated with increased life satisfaction during the winter, as well as an increase in positive emotions during the winter.

We were camping this thing.

So we were, I was just walking back and suddenly the guides who were with me, they're like Svalbard guides.

So they spot things really, really far away.

He scoped out and he's like, there's something on top.

It is hoped that there may result some helpful measures, in which case it may be my duty again to invite your attention to this subject.

The Norwegian Government, by a note addressed on January twenty-sixth, nineteen oh nine, to the Department of State, conveyed an invitation to the Government of the United States to take part in a conference, which it is understood will be held in February or March, nineteen ten, for the purpose of devising means to remedy existing conditions in the Spitzbergen Islands.

This invitation was conveyed under the reservation that the question of altering the status of the islands as countries belonging to no particular state, and as equally open to the citizens and subjects of all states, should not be raised.

The European powers invited to this conference by the Government of Norway were Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The Department of State, in view of proofs filed with it in nineteen oh six, showing the American possession, occupation, and working of certain coal-bearing lands in Spitzbergen, accepted the invitation under the reservation above stated, and under the further reservation that all interests in those islands already vested should be protected, and that there should be equality of opportunity for the future.

It was further pointed out that membership in the conference on the part of the United States was qualified by the consideration that this Government would not become a signatory to any conventional arrangement concluded by the European members of the conference, which would imply contributory participation by the United States in any obligation or responsibility for the enforcement of any scheme of administration which might be devised by the conference for the islands.

The Near East.

Liberia Negotiations for the amelioration of conditions found to exist in Liberia by the American Commission, undertaken through the Department of State, have been concluded, and it is only necessary for certain formalities to be arranged in securing the loan which, it is hoped, will place that republic on a practical financial and economic footing.

You have one satellite close to, I believe, Finland? This is Norway, yes.

So Svalbard is an island group north of Norway.

It's very close to the North Pole and our orbits are polar orbits, which means that every single orbit, they go over the pole.

So having one ground station near the pole means that every orbit we can have access.

And you can currently see FF01, which is Firefly 1.

Mm-hmm.

over the Svalbard ground station.

So there is a dedicated ground station or an antenna that we have in Svalbard.