Publish Time: 2026-07-19 Origin: Site
China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition Team, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, completed China's first Antarctic ice sheet hot water drilling experiment in the subglacial Lake Qilin area of East Antarctica.
Reaching a drilling depth of 3413 meters, it broke the previous international record of 2540 meters for the deepest polar hot water drilling.
This milestone marks that China is now capable of conducting drilling research across over 90% of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the entire Arctic Ice Sheet. It provides critical technical support for obtaining subglacial lake samples and researching paleoclimate and life evolution.
As a participant in this national key research and development program, CCTEG Xi'an Research Institute jointly developed the fully electric-driven non-metallic coiled tubing operation system and backwater winch system for deep hot water drilling.
The system features high control precision and fast response speed, meets the environmental requirement of zero pollution in the Antarctic environment, and provides accurate, stable, and eco-friendly operational support for the drilling experiment.