Wow, what an interesting thing to stumble across. I happen to work for the Polar Geospatial Center and deal with satellite imagery and map-making for both poles all the time. In fact, several of our staff are in the process of deploying to McMurdo where they support the US mission with maps and other GIS related activities. One staffer, Brad Herried, shot most of the Google Streetview material from Antarctica. Nice to see it's appreciated!