The design of the system was driven by two imperatives: data telemetry is not currently possible, thus forcing robust on-site data storage for yearly pickup, and power outages are possible, requiring that the system reliably cope with shutdown and startup operations while unattended. A subsidiary requirement was that the data storage facility is limited to 5W of power consumption on average, though higher power draws are possible for short periods of time (e.g., during disk activity).
The most daunting challenge is, of course, that of creating a "livable" environment year-round in the middle of the Antarctic ice sheet. This requirement is driven by our choice of data-storage device: rotating hard disk drives (HDDs). Until flash memory devices are economical at these data volumes, we will be forced to use HDDs. The mean-annual temperatures at my sites range from -28C to -54C, with annual lows of -80C possible. Our design goal was to keep the temperature at the disk drive above -5C.
This thumbnail of the Anubis schematic will take you to a
more detailed overview of the system.