A professor from Durham University says he's thrilled to be playing a key role in a major scientific experiment. Mike Bentley is poised to analyse samples which are being taken from an ancient frozen lake, buried deep beneath the ice in Antarctica.
A twelve man team of scientists and engineers has just started drilling toward lake Ellsworth, two miles beneath the surface. Early next week they'll reach the buried lake, and their specialist machinery will take samples of frozen water and sediment.
The findings will then be sent to various laboratories for analysis, including one at Durham university. The professor in charge of its team is ecstatic.
The findings will eventually help experts discover whether life can survive in the most extreme conditions.
The project has been sixteen years in the making and it'll take time to properly examine the results. The water and sediment samples will be studied in the spring of 2013.