This could be the most dangerous and exiting discover in history. Who knows what they will find in this lake.
With only about 50m left to drill, time is running out for the Russian scientists hoping to drill into Vostok - the world's most enigmatic lake.
Vostok is a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica, hidden some 4,000m (13,000ft) beneath the ice sheet.
With the Antarctic summer almost over, temperatures will soon begin to plummet; they can go as low as -80C.
Scientists will leave the remote base on 6 February, when conditions are still mild enough for a plane to land.
The team has been drilling non-stop for weeks.
"It's like working on an alien planet where no one has been before," Valery Lukin, the deputy head of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg, which oversees the project, told BBC News.
"We don't know what awaits us down there," he said, adding that personnel at the station have been working shifts, drilling 24 hours a day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12275979
I thought everyone knew that Aliens and Predators lived down there.
And lo didst the Russkies break the 6th seal.
That is pretty cool though.
We're gonna need some extra seals, because we've still got a year and we're alredy to 6.
I doubt if any life could have survived, but if any remains are located then they should be very well preserved, complete with microbes and viruses we know nothing about. Let's hope their controls are very tight indeed.
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 28, 2011, 04:02:05 PM
We're gonna need some extra seals, because we've still got a year and we're alredy to 6.
Why not just bump it to 23?
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 28, 2011, 04:07:07 PM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 28, 2011, 04:02:05 PM
We're gonna need some extra seals, because we've still got a year and we're alredy to 6.
Why not just bump it to 23?
There's a thought. :lol:
I have high hopes for this project.
Specifically killer viruses, or DEROS/Nazi Hell Creatures from the Hollow Earth, that will boil out of the shaft, consume the team, and then work their way North.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 28, 2011, 05:50:09 PM
I have high hopes for this project.
Specifically killer viruses, or DEROS/Nazi Hell Creatures from the Hollow Earth, that will boil out of the shaft, consume the team, and then work their way North.
They wake up some Old Ones and they are PISSED from being woken up in the middle of their Scarlett Johanson spank dreams.
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:00:49 PM
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
All kinds of weird microbes at the least.
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 28, 2011, 06:17:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:00:49 PM
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
All kinds of weird microbes at the least.
Yes. If they ever find a way to actually get in the lake the possibilities are unlimited. Bodies could be perfectly preserved down there. I imagine some type of remote sterile camera will get the first peek though.
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:39:19 PM
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 28, 2011, 06:17:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:00:49 PM
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
All kinds of weird microbes at the least.
Yes. If they ever find a way to actually get in the lake the possibilities are unlimited. Bodies could be perfectly preserved down there. I imagine some type of remote sterile camera will get the first peek though.
They already know that there are microbes, and they know that the residence time of the water is 13,600 years, as opposed to 6 years for Lake Ontario. They also know there are tides.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 28, 2011, 06:52:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:39:19 PM
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 28, 2011, 06:17:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:00:49 PM
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
All kinds of weird microbes at the least.
Yes. If they ever find a way to actually get in the lake the possibilities are unlimited. Bodies could be perfectly preserved down there. I imagine some type of remote sterile camera will get the first peek though.
They already know that there are microbes, and they know that the residence time of the water is 13,600 years, as opposed to 6 years for Lake Ontario. They also know there are tides.
ARE WE THERE YET???
I am pretty excited about this.
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:57:55 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 28, 2011, 06:52:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:39:19 PM
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 28, 2011, 06:17:29 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 28, 2011, 06:00:49 PM
They are bound to find something, the lake is estimated to be the size of Lake Ontario. I plan to follow this very close.
All kinds of weird microbes at the least.
Yes. If they ever find a way to actually get in the lake the possibilities are unlimited. Bodies could be perfectly preserved down there. I imagine some type of remote sterile camera will get the first peek though.
They already know that there are microbes, and they know that the residence time of the water is 13,600 years, as opposed to 6 years for Lake Ontario. They also know there are tides.
ARE WE THERE YET???
I am pretty excited about this.
No, they got that from core sampling and satellite imagery. Hit the wikipedia page for Lake Vostok.
Hell of a read!