By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press
MOSCOW – After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years – a pristine body of water that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.
Finally touching the surface of Lake Vostok, the largest of nearly 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, is a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world.
Valery Lukin, the head of Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) who oversaw the mission and announced its success, likened the endeavor to the epic race to the moon won by American scientists over the Soviets in 1969.
“I think it’s fair to compare this project to flying to the moon,” he said Wednesday.