Raytheon Polar Services Company


Raytheon Polar Services Company was a division of Raytheon that provided logistics, operations, and staffing for the National Science Foundation's operations in Antarctica and Antarctic waters. Its contract with the United States Antarctic Program expired on March 30, 2012.

Operational Role

The US Antarctic Program Participant Guide lists RPSC's role in Antarctica as the following:
Raytheon Polar Services operates the Antarctic Fire Department.

Criticism

Raytheon Polar Services Company has been criticized for failing to cooperate fully in New Zealand's investigation of Rodney Marks's death. Marks died in 2000 from methanol poisoning while working at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. New Zealand police and the coroner, Richard McElrea, said Raytheon and the National Science Foundation failed to provide full and prompt information to the authorities. New Zealand police believe there was a private U.S. investigation into the death, which the U.S. organizations refused to disclose.
In 2007, two employees of Raytheon had to be evacuated from the South Pole Station after one broke the other's jaw in a "drunken Christmas punch-up".