Russian scientists reach Lake Vostok after 20 years of drilling telegraph.co.uk
Lake Vostok (Russian: озеро Восток, lit. "Lake East") is the largest of more than 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years, although the lake water itself may have been isolated for 15 to 25 million years. wikipedia.org
excerpt
Russia says it has pierced through Antarctica's frozen crust to a vast, subglacial lake that has lain untouched for at least 14 million years, hiding what scientists believe may be unknown organisms and clues to life on other planets. Sealed deep under the ice sheet, Lake Vostok is one of the world's last unexplored frontiers. Scientists suspect its depths may reveal new life forms and a glimpse of the planet before the ice age. If life is found in the lake's icy darkness, it may provide the best answer yet to whether life can exist in the extreme conditions on Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa.