Polar research vessels demand increasingly greater endurance due to their special scientific research missions. A marine plant factory solution is proposed to address the problem of vegetable shortage for long-endurance polar research vessels, ensuring continuous supply of vegetables. The applied research of plant factory technologies for polar research vessels is conducted by discussing the key technologies, environmental control requirements and type selection of marine plant factories. A design method for the plant factory on long-endurance polar research vessels is then presented to provide references for ship designers.

The environment of polar regions is very different from that of other ocean regions, including extremely cold (low temperature), icing, snowing, polar day and polar night, etc. The polar climate emulation laboratory will build an indoor polar environment for the design optimization and the test of polar equipment performance, ensuring the reliable operation of ships and offshore equipment under various polar environments. Currently, the military and civil institutions in some countries around the world have built climate laboratories for the operation simulation and experimental verification of the polar equipment and technology. The key technologies of polar climate emulation laboratory, such as the load calculation, air distribution design, and insulation system and refrigeration plant configuration, are summarized and discussed combined with the design cases of the ultra-low temperature container laboratory and the polar climate laboratory.