Deep Sea Exploration

[nudge]

Anyone heard anything about it? A very interesting read. https://www.businessinsider.com/submarine-to-visit-deepest-parts-of-the-ocean-in-five-deeps-expedition-2018-10

A short summary: 

The world’s first manned expedition to the deepest point in each of the five oceans, and the ultimate validation of a unique deep-sea, manned research submersible. The Five Deeps Expedition is the first to attempt to reach the deepest point in each of the Earth’s five oceans: the Puerto Rico Trench in the Atlantic, South Sandwich Trench in the Southern Ocean, Java Trench in the Indian Ocean, Challenger Deep in the Pacific and Molloy Deep in the Arctic.

• The expedition will traverse 40,000 nautical miles / 74,000 km in 11 months.
• By the end of the expedition the sub will have descended through at least 72,000 m / 236,220 ft of water.
• Up to 50 scientific lander deployments will be undertaken alongside the submersible dives.
• No human has ever been to the bottom of the Java, Puerto Rico* or South Sandwich trenches.
• No one has ever been to the bottom of Molloy Deep.
• No manned submersible has ever been to Challenger Deep more than once.
• No person has ever been to the summit of Mount Everest and also been to the bottom of the ocean at Challenger Deep, which could occur on this expedition.

The 48 million $ submersible vehicle called Triton is made mainly of Titanium and is able to change shape according to pressure. 

The world’s first two-person, titanium-hulled submersible fully tested to 120% of full ocean depth (FOD) and commercially certified for thousands of dives. It is accompanied by a 68 meter dedicated research & exploration ship, a trio of advanced FOD-capable seafloor landers as well as an FOD-capable echo sounder and multi-beam sonar capable of mapping the sea floor – a technical Tour de Force.

The Five Deeps Expedition’s scientific program is led by renowned chief scientist Dr. Alan Jamieson, University of Newcastle, and will bring forth findings from never-before-explored depths to the global academic, oceanographic and environmental communities. The expedition provides the unprecedented opportunity to sample life across a gradient of depths, temperatures, salinity, food supply, latitude and in places around the world that were formed, split, or united millions of years ago by the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates.

GOALS

• Find deep-sea features and habitats using high-resolution multibeam sonar
• Learn what lives in those habitats using direct visitation by landers (Flere, Skaff and Closp) and submersible (Limiting Factor)
• Discover how organisms survive in Hadal zones using the Pressure Drop’s onboard wet lab
• Determine organisms’ role in each given ecosystem
• Connect the Five Deeps through genetic differentiation of species found on the dives
• Determine which “rules” the organisms follow including features, behaviors or characteristics of a species that are shared globally

Official website of the expedition: https://fivedeeps.com

 

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This looks so exciting!

[Azeem]

So its The Core but in reality

[nudge]

1 minute ago, Azeem said:

So its The Core but in reality

More like the Meg  

 

[Azeem]

Just now, nudge said:

More like the Meg  

 

Why does it say no one has ever been to the summit of Mount Everest ?

[nudge]

Just now, Azeem said:

Why does it say no one has ever been to the summit of Mount Everest ?

it says that no one has ever been BOTH to the summit of Mount Everest AND ALSO to the bottom of the ocean at Challenger Deep... 

[Azeem]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

it says that no one has ever been BOTH to the summit of Mount Everest AND ALSO to the bottom of the ocean at Challenger Deep... 

THANK YOU ! 

[True Blue]

One more place my arse won't be seeing woohoo.

[Berserker]

Very interesting, haven't heard anything about it. If they find something interesting they will hide it though, unless they're filming the whole thing 24/7 like big brother.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Berserker

[nudge]

14 minutes ago, Berserker said:

Very interesting, haven't heard anything about it. If they find something interesting they will hide it though, unless they're filming the whole thing 24/7 like big brother.

I think we are not going to get anything mind-blowing-and-life-changing anyway as it's primarily a biological, geological and oceanographic study (unless they find Cthulhu down there ), but I'm stoked to see new kinds of alien monster looking deep sea creatures that we haven't discovered yet! Nature is amazing; it's hard to imagine that anyone could survive let alone thrive in such harsh conditions of high pressure, pitch darkness, extreme cold, little oxygen...and yet nevertheless we have all those various life forms adapted to the conditions at the bottom of the ocean! 

As for filming, I'm sure they won't stream it 24/7, but the expedition will be documented by the Discovery and Science Channel on the series called Deep Planet which is slated to air in 2019.

[Bluewolf]

2 hours ago, nudge said:

unless they find Cthulhu down there

Someday when mankind has abandoned it's morals and descended into madness they will wake Cthulhu from his slumber and he will raise the old ones from death and all the world will flame in the holocaust of ecstasy and freedom... Nothing belongs to man, not this world, not the home they have built on it, not even the human mind, It is the ultimate destiny of this species to unravel into primal chaos as all things must.

To the sounds of their laughter and exultant shouts all man has ever built will one day fade away... 

 

[nudge]

12 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Someday when mankind has abandoned it's morals and descended into madness they will wake Cthulhu from his slumber and he will raise the old ones from death and all the world will flame in the holocaust of ecstasy and freedom... Nothing belongs to man, not this world, not the home they have built on it, not even the human mind, It is the ultimate destiny of this species to unravel into primal chaos as all things must.

To the sounds of their laughter and exultant shouts all man has ever built will one day fade away... 

 

Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men.

[Azeem]

Get a room you two

[Cicero]

Bound to run into Godzilla when they reach the Challenger 

[nudge]

One down, four more to go... The Triton has just dived to 8,376 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, making it the deepest diving manned submersible in the world today! 

 

[Cicero]

4 hours ago, nudge said:

One down, four more to go... The Triton has just dived to 8,376 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, making it the deepest diving manned submersible in the world today! 

 

Any monsters yet? 

[nudge]

7 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Any monsters yet? 

Nah but this one is kind of cute...

 

And this one is weird....

[Dr. Gonzo]

That weird one is very cool though.

[nudge]

Also look - a fish that can walk! 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

 

 

[nudge]

Mission update:

1st dive: Atantic - Puerto Rico Trench - COMPLETE. In a historic feat, explorer Victor Vescovo became the first human to dive on a solo mission to the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean – the verified bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench at 8,376 meters/27,480 feet in his private submersible, the Limiting Factor. The trench was previously explored to approximately 8,300 meters by the French submersible Archimede in 1964, but it did not reach the deepest point. The dive also makes the Limiting Factorthe deepest diving operational submersible in the world, surpassing the previous operational record-holder, the Chinese submersible Jiaolong which has reportedly reached a maximum depth of 7,062 meters. A groundbreaking documentary series about the expedition is also being filmed by Atlantic Productions for Discovery Channel, and will air in 2019/2020.

In addition to Vescovo’s solo dive, the expedition also accomplished:

• First manned descent to the verified bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean
• First American-made submersible to dive deeper than 6,100 meters since the US Navy’s DSV-4 Sea Cliffin 1985, thirty-three years ago
• Only the second solo dive made deeper than 5,000 meters. Only James Cameron in his Deepsea Challengerhas made a deeper solo dive, to full ocean depth (10,908 meters) in 2012

2nd dive: Southern - South Sandwich Trench - COMPLETE.  The Five Deeps Expedition crosses another historic dive off its list when explorer Victor Vescovo became the first human to dive to the deepest point in the Southern Ocean – in the southern portion of the South Sandwich Trench – at 7,433.6 meters/24,388 feet in his private submersible, the Limiting Factor. Located just north of the Antarctic continent, the Southern Ocean’s South Sandwich Trench has not been thoroughly explored and is the only subzero Hadal zone (deeper than 6,000 meters) in the world. No human has ever dived in the trench, and what few samples have been taken from its hadal depths, date back to the early 1970s. Due to its remote location, this dive posed many logistical and weather-related challenges, however the scientific findings could prove to be groundbreaking.

In addition to Vescovo’s solo dive, the expedition also accomplished:

• First human being to reach the bottom of the Southern Ocean in the southern portion of the South Sandwich Trench
• Most accurate mapping of the South Sandwich Trench to date using a modern multibeam sonar system • Deepest dive into a sub-zero Hadal zone, only the third solo dive below 7,000 meters
• The third-deepest solo dive in history, after James Cameron’s 2012 dive to the Pacific Ocean’s Challenger Deep, and Vescovo’s dive in December 2019 to the bottom of the Atlantic

3rd dive: Indian - Java Trench - COMPLETE. For the third time, the Five Deeps Expedition has successfully dived to the previously-unvisited bottom of one of the world’s five oceans. The team completed a mission to reach one of the most isolated points on the planet: the deepest point of the Java Trench in the Indian Ocean. Now measured at 7,192 meters/23,596 feet deep, Victor Vescovo is the first human to dive to its depths in the DSV Limiting Factor (Triton 36000/2 model submersible) the world’s deepest diving, currently operational submarine. At the bottom of the trench, the team managed to capture footage from the sub and from the landers of what are believed to be entirely new species, yet unseen by humans. From the sub, a new species of hadal snailfish was observed amongst many other bottom dwelling organisms, and the landers observed an extraordinary gelatinous animal – thought to be a stalked Ascidean, otherwise known as a Sea Squirt – which does not resemble anything seen before.

In addition to Vescovo’s solo dive, the expedition also accomplished:  

• First descent to the bottom of the Indian Ocean
• The most solo dives - three - deeper than 7,000m have now been made by a single individual, Victor Vescovo
• First manned descent of any significant depth (below 2,000 meters) in the Java Trench and the first descent to the absolute bottom of the trench (7,192m)
• Deepest dive by a British citizen (Scottish) in that country’s history, by Dr. Alan Jamieson to 7,180 meters, and first to visit a hadal zone
• First seabed lander operations including biological sampling and depth confirmation at the bottom of the Diamantina Fracture Zone in the Indian Ocean, 800 miles west of the Australian coast
• Discovered at least 4 new species of life, including one significantly-sized, stalked Ascidean, previously unseen by any member of the expedition science team
• Completed the third dive of the Five Deeps Expedition and thus 60% complete with the overall mission, and remaining on schedule for completion in September 2019

 

Three down, two more to go! Next step - Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench!

 

[CaaC (John)+]

35 minutes ago, nudge said:

Three down, two more to go! Next step - Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench!

                                                                                                           

Looking forward to this one 

 

[Harry]

My dream as a child was to be the first person to start a new civilisation under the sea....

[Azeem]

2 minutes ago, Harry said:

My dream as a child was to be the first person to start a new civilisation under the sea....

Or in other words you wanted to shag ariel 

[CaaC (John)+]

[Harry]

Hahaha no definitely not I never even saw that movie. I was imagining underwater buildings on stilts with an airlock where you could swim up through the floor.