Soon, they will successfully open the way to Vostok, a huge lake, which has been since 20 million years is not exposed to sunlight.
Excavation itself is carried out to find what life forms there. Even so, researchers fear the excavation process will pollute the lake with a lubricating fluid and bacteria, and there is also potential for an explosion of gas in these waters, with oxygen and nitrogen concentrations are high.
To that end, so there is no sudden release of gas, the research team will not dig deep into the lake. Enough to reach the surface of the lake water before it freezes because of cold temperatures.
Mission to Lake Vostok itself is a first attempt to reach a network consisting of 200-an subglacial lake in Antarctica. As is known, although the top of the lake is a very thick layer of ice, but the bottom remains liquid because of heat emitted by the Earth's core.
"Exploration is very important for science, let alone this huge lake we do not know its existence until the 1990s," said John Priscu, of Montana State University researchers are also involved in the study, as quoted by Science Magazine, February 1, 2012.
If the excavation goes well, we'll get new knowledge for further understanding of planet Earth. "Chances are, this knowledge is also useful to know how conditions in the months in the solar system, and the other planets far away," he said.
Moreover, if the Vostok accommodate microbes, these findings will provide a significant impact on astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life. As is known, Europa, Jupiter's moon, and Enceladus, Saturn's moon; have a thick layer of ice covering the ocean of water beneath it - the same as Lake Vostok.