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| Woston lake seen from a satellite (photo by NASA) |
After 15 million years, frozen in Antarctic ice Wostok lake is about to be explored! Russian scientists are trying to drill through the ice to reach the waters of a lake, that remembers the prehistoric times. Its wildlife was developing independently from other regions of the world and will soon uncover its secrets to the world. Scientists refer to it as "The Oasis Frozen In Time" as it froze about 15 million years ago.
The main problem is the upcoming arctic winter and unpredictable discoveries. "
It's like studying an unknown planet that was never explored by a human being. We don't know what we will find there" - says Walery Lukin from the
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, who oversees
the operation.
The current depth of the borehole is 3750 meters - 5 meters from the lake. Scientists are afraid of going deeper because of the possibility of contamination of the samples from the prehistoric water. Also, there comes the possibility of finding new, never before discovered bacteria, which evolved independently from the rest of the planet.
The scientists are planning on inserting an R/C robot into the lake to get some samples.
Interesting, isn't it? See you on Wednesday! (Also, sorry for a late post...)
