Trip to the coldest, darkest place on Earth
The British Antarctic Survey has hosted a planning meeting for an international expedition to Lake Vostok, a vast subterranean lake in Antarctica thought to have existed in a state of isolation for millions of years.
The international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) met in late September to discuss the scientific objectives and logistical and engineering requirements on an expedition to take place within five years. The exploration of Lake Vostok, however, could provide NASA with a unique opportunity to test technology ultimately destined for space exploration.
As well as gathering information on geological structures, researchers hope to discover whether life can exist under such extreme conditions. This information could be the vital clue to finding extra-terrestrial life in the lakes suspected to exist under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa.
Lake Vostok will be the test run for an ice-penetrating cryobot and a submersible hydrobot developed by NASA and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). The cryobot would melt its way through the ice cover then deploy a hydrobot, a self-propelled underwater vehicle, that would analyze the chemical composition of the ice and water in a search for signs of life.
Lake Vostok is one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world lying beneath the 4 km thick ice sheet of Eastern Antarctica in the vicinity of the Russian Vostok Station which once recorded the lowest temperature on earth (-88 C). Lake Vostok is around 230 km long by 50 km wide, has a maximum water depth of over 500 m and contains a sediment record up to hundreds of metres thick. The permanently cold, dark, pressurised environment would clearly offer serious challenges to survival, which could result in the discovery of novel organisms and processes.
The lake was discovered in 1974 during an airborne radio-echo survey of ice depths over central East Antarctica. In 1996, Russian and British scientists combined data from airborne radio echo sounding, satellite altimetry and seismic measurements to provide a complete description.
As part of a joint US, French and Russian research project, Russian teams have drilled down into the ice covering the lake, producing the world's deepest ice core. Drilling was deliberately stopped 120 metres above the point where ice and liquid water meet to prevent possible contamination.
Water below the ice, which has been cut off from the outside world, may have a unique chemical composition. There may also be an active tectonic rift below the lake which may be warming its waters. Sediments at the lake bottom may contain a record of ancient climate conditions.