Russians enter Lake Vostok again
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028616
New Scientist : Lake Vostok, an isolated lake nearly 4 km below the Antarctic ice, has remained relatively undisturbed for 15 million years. In 2012 a Russian team led by Vladimir Lipenkov of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and Nikolay Vasiliev of the National Mineral Resources University broke into the lake and collected water samples that they later claimed contained DNA from an unknown bacterial species. However, the samples were contaminated when the team withdrew the drill bit too quickly from the borehole and water from the lake and fluid from the drill mixed together. A second attempt, using the same borehole most of the way, reached the lake surface at 5:12pm on 25 January. Now that they know the lake’s pressure and depth, the team should be able to withdraw the drill at the right speed without contaminating the sample.
