James Cameron on Earth's Deepest Spot: Desolate, Lunar-Like

[xchrom]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120326-james-cameron-mariana-trench-challenger-deepest-lunar-sub-science/


Explorer-filmmaker James Cameron emerges from his sub after returning from Challenger Deep.

The Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep—the deepest point on Earth—looks as bleak and barren as the moon, according to James Cameron, who successfully returned just hours ago from the first solo dive to the ocean abyss.

At noon, local time Monday (10 p.m. ET Sunday), the National Geographic explorer and filmmaker's "vertical torpedo" sub broke the surface of the western Pacific, some 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Guam.

(Video: James Cameron Breaks Solo Dive Record.)

After a descent that took roughly two and a half hours, Cameron spent about three hours conducting the first manned scientific exploration of Challenger Deep.

For his return trip, Cameron experienced a faster-than-expected, roughly 70-minute ascent, which he described as a "heckuva ride."

[madokie]

1. I'll bet it was a Heckuva ride for sure

[xchrom]

2. Was Cameron's Deep Dive as Useless as Manned Space Flight?

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27671/?p1=blogs


Does Enceladus harbor life? Maybe we'd know by now if we weren't so busy sending meat sacks into the harsh vacuum of space.

Ninety-nine percent of what we know about the solar system came to us from unmanned probes. There can be no argument about comparative value of sending humans to other worlds, at least from a scientific perspective, because our relatively cheap, versatile, expendable robot spawn will win every time.

Indeed, had we spent the money we wasted on the shuttle program on unmanned probes, we would probably know already, for example, whether or not there is life in the watery oceans of Enceladus. Watching astronauts eat space food while weightless is great and all, but wouldn't you rather know whether or not we're alone in this universe?

It's worth asking whether the same logic applies to filmmaker James Cameron's just-completed dive to the deepest place on the planet -- the Challenger Deep. During the expedition, the hydraulic pump on the submarine's sample gathering arm failed, which means Cameron failed to bring back anything of scientific value.

In addition, by Cameron's own account, he saw nothing while on the bottom of the Challenger Deep

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. I might point out that it didn't cost you (or me) a cent- it was on NGS's and Cameron's dime.

I'd also point out that the hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Ocean Ridge became widely known thanks to the manned expeditions
that discovered them. And if it wasn't for their discoveries of chemosynthetic extremophile ecosystems, we wouldnt even be
discussing possible life on Enceladus and Europa.

If you want to take up a cudgel against manned spaceflight, by all means go ahead and do so- but don't rope in unrelated endeavors
to try to make your case.

[xchrom]

4. i have no dog -- in particular -- in the fight.

i am more or less -- a fan of manned operations in space or deep sea -- but thought this an interesting 'other side'.