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Tawani Foundation was proud to partner with NASA, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Russian Federation, Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation, and the Planetary Studies Foundation to fully fund an international expedition to Antarctica in search of extreme organisms. 

Scientists and explorers hoped to discover a new species of extremophile, hardy life forms that exist and flourish in conditions too hostile for most known organisms. Discoveries of this nature will help scientists understand the limitations of life on Earth, and to prepare human explorers to search other worlds for signs of life in the universe.

Tawani Foundation’s President and CEO, COL (IL) James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret.) was pleased to participate in the planning meetings and the full-up expedition which included teams from the U.S., Russia and Austria and focused on the Schirmacher Oasis region of Antarctica and Lake Untersee, a perennially ice-covered hyper-alkaline lake with the highest production of methane of any natural aquatic system on Earth.

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