A major British-led mission of exploration will travel over 16,000km to investigate signs of new life in one of Antarctica's biggest lakes.
The team, financed by the Natural Environment Research Council, will tunnel 2km below the surface of ice on Lake Ellsworth for evidence of the existence of new life in one of the planet's most brutal environments.
Many pieces of the expedition's equipment that will be used in the course of the project were designed and developed at eight British Universities and engineering institutions.
The water sampling probe which will be used to secure samples from the depths of the lake, was developed at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.
The Lake Ellsworth Program Principal Investigator, Professor Martin Sieghart of the University of Edinburgh said: "For almost 15 years we've been planning to explore this hidden world.
"It's only now that we have the expertise and technology to drill through Antarctica's thickest ice and collect samples without contaminating this untouched and pristine environment".
Dr David Pearce of the British Antarctic Survey added: "Finding life in a lake that could have been isolated from the rest of the biosphere for up to half a million years will tell us so much about the potential origin of and constraints for life on Earth, and may provide clues to the evolution of life on other extraterrestrial environments".
By using ground-breaking "clean technology" the three month mission also hopes to ensure that all future investigation of subglacial lakes conforms to expectations that the Antarctic environment will be protected.