Looks like they will have to wait a year before they actually break the surface of the lake. From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok http://en.

Looks like they will have to wait a year before they actually break the surface of the lake. From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok "The researchers switched to a new thermal drill head with a clean silicon-oil fluid to drill the rest of the way.[17] Instead of drilling all the way into the water, they will stop just above it, when a sensor on the thermal drill detects free water. At that point, the drill will be stopped and extracted from the bore hole, thereby lowering the pressure beneath it and drawing water into the hole and left for quite some time to freeze, creating a plug of frozen ice in the bottom of the hole. Finally, next summer, the team would drill down again to take a sample of that ice and analyse it.[1][18]"