Testing of a reusable stratospheric platform for Arctic exploration will be environmentally safe for the fragile environment of high latitudes. An expedition to test the platform at the North Pole is about to depart from Murmansk, the Murmansk Arctic University (MAU), supervising the project, told TASS. "This is an airplane-type reusable stratospheric platform with a 3-meter wingspan, which is attached to a stratospheric balloon. The platform was developed by specialists of the Murmansk Arctic University, the Stratonavtika Laboratory, the Harbin Institute of Technology, and the Environmental Foundation. About the Murmansk Arctic UniversityThe Murmansk Arctic University, created as a merger of two of biggest universities in the Murmansk Region, has received over 1 billion rubles ($12 million) to establish a Coastal Training Center and to upgrade the Maritime Conventional Training Center.