http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/antmag.html
2/24/01 6:23:56 PM Pacific Standard Time
This was sent to me. Where it came from I don't know yet. ANON
David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC
February 21, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1730)
Rosemary Sullivant
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0747)
RELEASE: 01-24
SPACE MAPPING MISSION OF ANTARCTICA ABORTED DUE TO NSA OVER-RIDE
In a brief announcment today, NASA and the JPL terminated all further study
of Lake Vostok in S. Antarctica. In an apparent slip of confidentiality,
spokeswoman Debra Shingteller alluded to "National Security Issues" allowing
the NSA to assume full control of what had been an International effort to
explore a huge, under-ice lake near the Russian Vostok research station. Ms.
Shingteller was immediately led away from the podium, and an aid responded
to the many further questions with the same answer: "the project has been
halted due to environmental issues", and that no further releases were
pending. The large crowd of press corp. were left clamoring as the officials
left the stage. Ms. Shingteller has not responded to repeated attempts at
contact.
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The above is a report from an official JPL PR rep. who attended the
announcement. The following is part of a letter written to an editor of
Scientific American Magazine (who has requested anonimity). The linked photo
at the end was released by NASA in Jan 2001 seemingly by mistake. It is no
longer available from the official archive.
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Approximately 300 miles from the South Pole there is a lake, a very large
lake. It is Lake Vostok. It is also located over 3/4 mile beneath the
Continental Ice Sheet. The best photos of Lk Vostok are from space, where
the outline is clearly visible. Current ice-penetrating radar studies
indicate that the water is up to 2000 ft deep in places, and has an
over-arching dome up to 1/2 mile high. Estimates for filtered light at the
lake surface indicate something like "continuous first morning light" during
Antarctica's summer months. Thermograph imaging proposes an amazing
50-degree average water temperature with "hot spots" near 65 degrees. This
can only be attributed to subsurface geothermal heat sources. At 300 miles
long, and 50 miles wide, the encapsulated atmosphere should have the ability
to cleanse itself through interaction with the lake, and possibly... plant
life.
Also proposed as a possible route for atmospheric interaction with the
lake's environment are what are being labeled "geothermal boils". These are
thousands of bubbles in the ice sheet located in the some 200 sq. miles of
"ice dunes" discovered by the late Russian scientist Ivan Toskovoi who was
stationed at Vostok research base until his disappearance in March 2000. The
surveyed bubbles range from a few to several hundred feet in diameter.
Quite possibly just as exciting as all of the data related so far, is the
discovery through Magnetic Imaging that there is an extremely powerful
source of magnetic energy located at the North end of the lake's shoreline.
As of this writing, no one has suggested an explanation for the magnetic
"anomaly".
As recently as February 2000, at least two international teams were planning
separate probes of the lake. Both consisted of fairly similar robotic
sensors that would have been lowered through shafts(to be drilled). The team
based at Cambridge University, London were sponsored by the UK and US
governments, and backed by NASA technology. For reasons not clear, both
programs have been shelved indefinitely, with NASA going so far as to deny
any involvement, and both governments citing "environmental concerns". An
independent source that visited Norway's research base some 150 miles to the
East stated that a large amount of new equipment and personnel have been
arriving at Russia's Vostok Station over the last six months. This is
interesting considering Russia's current financial situation.
A final note is a verified dispatch out of Casey Station(AU). The pair of
women adventurers who were attempting to ski across the continent last
month, and were extracted by plane during the last leg of their trip, did
NOT request the intervention. Over the protests of the Australian crew at
Casey, the two were airlifted via an extraordinary 48 hour flight by a USN
Special Forces team out of American Samoa. According to the dispatch the
women were insistent on reporting something unusual they had seen. The
latest news reports have the pair resting in "seclusion".
NSA OVER-RIDE.url
