Lake Vostok Breakthrough In Antarctica Hailed By Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday praised the Russian scientists who have reached a gigantic freshwater lake in Antarctica hidden under more than two miles (3.2 kilometers) of ice, a pristine body of water that may hold life from the distant past.

On national television, Russia's natural resources minister gave Putin a canister of water from melted ice at the bottom of the boreshaft near the surface of Lake Vostok.

The footage appeared aimed at showing Russia's scientific prowess and helping Putin's bid to reclaim the presidency in March's election. Putin hailed the discovery of Lake Vostok as a "great event" and said the research team members will receive national awards.

After more than two decades of drilling, the Russian researchers reached the lake on Sunday at a depth of 12,366 feet (3,769 meters) in a location about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) east of the South Pole.

Reaching the surface of Lake Vostok, the largest of nearly 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, was a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world.

The lake is expected to hold living organisms that have been locked in icy darkness for some 20 million years, as well as clues to the search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Scientists believe that microbial life may exist in the dark depths of the lake, despite its high pressure and constant cold – conditions similar to those believed to be found under the ice crust on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.

American and British teams are drilling to reach their own subglacial Antarctic lakes, but they are smaller and younger than Vostok.

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Comments

[MrTreize]

09:33 PM on 02/11/2012

Good job, congrats to that team!

[Liban CZ]

02:00 PM on 02/11/2012

President Obama likes science too.
MARSHMALLOW canon is the latest.

[Carbon Forteetoo]

12:55 PM on 02/11/2012

A dark voice rising from the hole spoke only one word: "HUNGER!"

[realpolitic]

11:36 AM on 02/11/2012

Hope they did not pollute the lake too much to get at the water.

[ttsgw]

11:17 AM on 02/11/2012

Hail Putin!

[Djay0252]

11:15 AM on 02/11/2012

I hope the Russkys are careful not to drill into that big block of ice. Look what happend to the Norwegians!...check their teeth for fillings before they leave Antartica.

[GSR]

07:01 AM on 02/11/2012

Great stuff

[Sirlarek]

02:05 AM on 02/11/2012

Congratulations folks....that is a major breakthrough. I hope the work is fruitful...and it will be, even if it is a dead lake.

[joe1964]

12:21 AM on 02/11/2012

That's nice. Now, WHAT HAVE THEY FOUND!

Such a tease!

[Demidan]

08:45 AM on 02/11/2012

They've found ice! They won't get samples until next summer.

[stremch]

12:17 AM on 02/11/2012

Politics to the back burner, this is
people at work for humanity. Country
doesn't matter, Planet does.

[Ed Haskell]

12:04 AM on 02/11/2012

I can envision all these Russian scientists standing around the bore hole, drinking their Vodka and loudly singing the Internationale...

Stand up, damned of the Earth
Stand up, prisoners of starvation
Reason thunders in its volcano
This is the eruption of the end
Of the past let us make a clean slate
Enslaved masses, stand up, stand up
The world is about to change its foundation
We are nothing, let us be all
|: This is the final struggle
Let us group together, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be the human race

There are no supreme saviours
Neither God, nor Caesar, nor tribune.
Producers, let us save ourselves
Decree the common salvation
So that the thief expires,
So that the spirit be pulled from its prison,
Let us fan the forge ourselves
Strike the iron while it is hot
|: This is the final struggle
Let us group together, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be the human race :|

[vascopyjama]

11:50 PM on 02/10/2012

How long before we start hearing about a massive oil spill?

[Alligator Breath]

11:03 AM on 02/11/2012

Or someone has too much vodka and pees down the bore hole.

[MIKEinNYC]

10:32 PM on 02/10/2012

Yeah, let's bring this to the surface, people accidentally drink it thinking it's Ruskie Springs Bottled Water, and mutate into zombies.

[mikala]

07:48 PM on 02/10/2012

The Russians would have never been able to do this without the help of the U.S, British and French programs funny Putin didn't mention that.

[Liban CZ]

07:49 PM on 02/10/2012

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[mikala]

07:57 PM on 02/10/2012

So what is your question, I have been there have you?

[GSR]

07:03 AM on 02/11/2012

He didn't mention his neice either. Bloody Ruski.

[grey32]

06:36 PM on 02/10/2012

WOW!!