Story highlights Scientists say they are planning to drill into an area where a killer asteroid lies

New study reveals geological impact of the asteroid in the Gulf of Mexico

(CNN) Scientists plan to drill into an impact crater where the remnants of a killer asteroid lie off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The Chicxulub crater is the spot where an asteroid stuck 66 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs and most life on the planet. Scientists hope that by drilling into the crater sediments, they may be able to learn how life here bounced back after the devastating impact.

"You can assume that at ground zero of this impact we are dealing with a sterile ocean, and over time life renewed itself. We might learn something for the future," Research Professor Sean Gulick of University of Texas Institute for Geophysics told CNN on Thursday.

A team of scientists from the University of Texas, the National University of Mexico and the International Ocean Discovery Program plan to start drilling in April. The drilling is expected is projected to take two months to complete.

"We have some hypothesis of what we will find," Gulick said. "We expect to see a period of no life initially, and then life returning and getting more diverse through time."

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