The Lost World of Lake Vida

Explanation: A lake hidden beneath 19 meters of ice and gravel has been found near the bottom of the world that might contain an ecosystem completely separate from our own. In a modern version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's classic book Lost World , NASA funded scientists are now plotting a mission to drill down into the lake and remove a sample of water from the lake for analysis. Lake Vida , buried under Antarctic ice for over 2,500 years, is liquid only because of a high salt content that results from salt being expelled from water above as it turns to ice. Previously, scientists drilled to within a few meters of the lake and indeed found frozen microbes . Their existence bolsters speculation that similar microorganisms could be found in frozen brine beneath the surface of Mars . If living organisms are found in Lake Vida , they may give an indication that life might even still exist under similar frozen ice-sheets , such as under the larger Lake Vostok , parts of Mars, and even moons of Jupiter such as Europa . Pictured above , a robot meteorological station continues to monitor surface conditions over the ice-sealed lake.