More Astrobiology Research at McMurdo: WISSARD

A group here doing research at McMurdo recently made the news.  They are using sterile hot water drilling techniques to drill into an ice covered lake in the Antarctic. Any life that live in the lake would experience cold, but also a lack of sun (and therefore no photosynthetic activity) as a means of primary productivity. These ice covered lakes can be thought of as analogs to icy moons, such as Jupiters moon Europa. Europa is though to have an ocean of liquid water locked under its icy surface. Enceladus, the cold moon of Saturn, has plumes of water that shoot up through the ice to the surface and falls back down as snow. Read more about how researchers are studying subsurface water in an icy environment here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/science/wissard-project-seeks-signs-of-life-under-antarctica.html?ref=science&_r=0