The Great Antarctic Search For Life Is Over (For Now)
McMurdo Dry Valleys, Home Of Lake Vida Robert Simmon, based on data provided by the NASA GSFC Oceans and Ice Branch and the Landsat 7 Science TeamThe Lake Ellsworth drilling project was supposed to be a quick, high-tech hunt for microbes under the surface of Antarctica, but tech problems forced researchers to scrap it. The British Antarctic Survey above Lake Ellsworth was a Great White Hope for discovering never-before-seen life. Scientists spent years planning an ambitious study of the lake, which sits two miles below the Antarctic surface, hoping to burrow through the ice with a hot-water drill. If they'd arrived at the bottom, the team might've found microbes with biology never observed by humans. Instead, the team's heading home. What happened? First, it's important to know what was supposed to happen. Scientists would open a borehole with the drill, giving them enough time to lower remote-control probes into...