Do not give up
The Soviets decided to try again. They started working on a new hole, which reached a record depth of 12,262 meters in 1989. The scientists were on track and expected to reach a depth of 13.4 kilometers by the end of 1990. They never expected to reach this before. After all, the Americans and their Bertha Rodgers gap had only reached 9.5 kilometers.
This prediction came true. They were hopeful and adjusted their target to 15 kilometers. According to their predictions, they could reach this depth sometime in 1993. But something turned out to be underneath the remote Russian tundra that they had never considered before. A similar depth had never been reached by anyone. The scientists were now venturing into uncharted territory.
At this depth the scientists discovered a very bizarre phenomenon.