The United States South Pole Station is located at the Geophysical South Pole, on the Antarctic Plateau at 9,300 feet (2835m). The equivalent pressure elevation, based on polar atmospheric conditions, will vary from 11,000-13,000 feet (3,300 to 4,000m), and the station rests on a moving sheet of ice almost 2 miles (3,000m) thick of ice. The recorded low temperature during the winter is -117 F, without wind chill, with an average temperature of -49.8C/-57.6F. South Pole Station has over 4 months of continuous sunshine, followed by 2 months of day and night, and then over 4 months of continuous darkness. (More pictures of the south pole stations are available below)

All material and personnel must be flown in during the Austral Summer season, with station personnel being isolated for over 8 months out of the year. The isolated personnel dine on frozen food stores that are flown in during the summer, and stockpiled. The one component of their diet that is not supplied, is the fresh salad crops, which are not able to be dried or frozen, and don’t have a long storage life. Since 1992, South Pole has had a volunteer operated growth chamber, to produce some salad crops, to supplement their diets. With the advent of the New South Pole Station, the National Science Foundation wanted a state-of-the-art growth chamber to be included in their new station.