1964 was the year when a team of Russian researchers who were bringing the local scientist Andrey Kapitsa from Moscow State University, set out a seismic experiment in the eastern corner of Antarctica, close to the Vostok research station. This group measured the thickness of the ice in this place, most notably not having detected the wonderful thing that there was to discover under the surface, at a depth of 2.5 miles (4 km), the same as long tree roots.

In 1973, a new team of researchers from the US, the UK, and Denmark “drifted” to study the same place. This was the time when they were to make the surprising discovery that, at first, seemed an absolute impossibility. What they had discovered under the ice was one of the most important geographical discoveries of the second half of the 20th century! They discovered one of the largest freshwater subglacial lakes in the world as it had been completely isolated from the remainder of the planet for millions of years.

The Vostok station was the station where the lake was named and it shot into fame due to the fact that the things that were hidden there could reveal to us that life can spring rapidly and up under a wide range of conditions on our planet and on others, too.