But Dr Sharifah Mazlina Syed Abdul Kadir, the person responsible for planting the capsule, said it would be difficult due to surface changes.

She said the location of the capsule might have changed or submerged after 15 years of being buried in the South Pole.

“To be honest, I think it is almost impossible for the three national ‘ice queens’ to bring home the capsule even though it is one of the main missions the expedition is undertaking,” said Sharifah of the All Women Expedition to Antarctica.

“Other than having sunk, the position of the capsule may already be in the US Research Centre area because I planted it within a km from the centre,” she told reporters at the mission’s flagging off ceremony at the KL International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.

The mission, which is scheduled to take place from Dec 18 to Jan 3, would include Malaysian army corporal Siti Jumaidah Bensali, 34, home ministry officer Salehah Abu Nor, 33 and pharmacist Nurul Atiqah Tamarun, 31.

Sharifah said her team would still go to the spot where the capsule was buried and take photographs with the new capsule to be brought along on the current mission to prove their effort to find and retrieve the capsule.

On the mission to plant the 2030 time capsule delivered by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, called “Semangat Malaysia Boleh Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad”, Sharifah said the plan had to be abandoned after failing to obtain the approval of Antarctica.

She said they were informed recently that under the Antarctica Act, no objects were allowed to be buried in the area.

She said the group would instead bring the capsule to have it photographed upon our arrival at the South Pole.