Can you imagine that something on this earth has never been explored? It's true.
Lake Vostok in Antarctia has never been explored and is over 14 million years old. The lake is not connected to any other lakes and scientists are curious to see what they find.
Lake Vostok's Failed Exploration
Sealed off by a sheet of ice, Lake Vostok is about 250 kilometers long, 50 kilometers wide and about 800 meters deep.
This is not the first time scientists attempted to explore the lake. In 2003, scientists wanted to drill through the ice sheet to get samples from the lake. However, NASA concluded that the lake would become contaminated. This contamination could possibly cause the water to "fizz" like a soda can making samples collected inaccurate.
Second Attempt
After some more research and consideration, scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St. Petersburg will be conducting new tests. Lake Vostok is important to explore because it contains a high level of oxygen. In fact, the lake has over 50 times more oxygen than the average lake.
Lake Vostok is also a great place to search for new organisms. Organisms that survive in very oxygen-rich environments could warrant research on planets that have similar conditions.
The crew of scientists are able to drill around four meters a day and hope to reach the water before the current Antarctic summer season ends.