I think its very important that we learn about life at the bottom of that trench so that we can figure out how to kill it, and then use that trench to store nuclear waste. Its perfect for that.
Dump Dump Dump Dump.
Or grind down the bodies of non productive members of society and pump it down there
The discovery of ecosystems completely reliant on geothermal energy (as opposed to solar) in the deep sea is, IMO, one of the most important discoveries of the last 100 years. That finding completely changed the way we looked at the concept of "life".
that discovery almost single-handedly guaranteed that we could someday find life on other planets in our solar system. i think Europa is the moon completely covered in ice but with an active core that could provide liquid water deep below the surface. if there are deep liquid water oceans, then i think it almost has to be a certainty for there to be life there after what we've seen in our own oceans
Space not only is cooler,exploring it could mean the difference of human survival or not.
I should have put in my original post, that I have no problems with exploring space, but it just seems like noone is interested in exploring the ocean.
The deep ocean has been the source of easily one of the most exciting finds in biology, the extremophiles. Its even being debated that life could have started deep in the primordial ocean near or in these vents:
A reason why we are VERY excited to see what could be under the ice on Europa, that we should find life there.
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So we can send a robot to Mars and have it do science and photography for us for years, but we have to send James Cameron underwater?
Edit: I shouldn't complain too much though I suppose - my wife was given a styrofoam cup that he took down to the Bismark, in an external basket on the submersible. The pressure shrank it down, including the writing on it, to the size of a shot glass. Because the pressure is equal in all directions, it's perfectly proportioned and the writing is super tiny, but legible.
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Last edited by sclitheroe; 03-26-2012 at 05:45 PM.
So we can send a robot to Mars and have it do science and photography for us for years, but we have to send James Cameron underwater?
Cameron does consulting for NASA. But to that point, if you read any of the news stories/links, they talk about why sending a person down is preferred to only a robotic craft. Same would apply to Mars but we can't send a person there, yet.
Cameron does consulting for NASA. But to that point, if you read any of the news stories/links, they talk about why sending a person down is preferred to only a robotic craft. Same would apply to Mars but we can't send a person there, yet.
I believe it was something Cameron said, basically what was said in the article you linked to:
Quote:
These days, humans in the hull are most valuable when they come across something no one has ever seen before, German says. Nothing beats a human at seeing something for the first time and trying to make some initial sense of it. Cameron says more dives to the Challenger Deep will follow this one.
The main counter point to that was from the same Dr. German who asserts that this is the " effective but final generation" of the deep sea submersibles.
I should have put in my original post, that I have no problems with exploring space, but it just seems like noone is interested in exploring the ocean.
Its not that at all, while 99% of the ocean is unexplored, we know what it looks like, just no one has physically gone down.
Its like the ocean floor was the prairies, and we go down and always find the same stuff, so even if we've seen spots of the floor, we can predict with great certainty what we'll find, sure might find a few new species we haven't seen but the likelihood of finding something that would blow us away is unlikely.
The ocean floor is simply the same, almost everywhere on earth, we know what the floor looks like from our mapping of the ocean floor, we pick and choose interesting looking spots on those maps to go down and check out, but the vast majority of the ocean is a rather boring area.
Its not that at all, while 99% of the ocean is unexplored, we know what it looks like, just no one has physically gone down.
Its like the ocean floor was the prairies, and we go down and always find the same stuff, so even if we've seen spots of the floor, we can predict with great certainty what we'll find, sure might find a few new species we haven't seen but the likelihood of finding something that would blow us away is unlikely.
The ocean floor is simply the same, almost everywhere on earth, we know what the floor looks like from our mapping of the ocean floor, we pick and choose interesting looking spots on those maps to go down and check out, but the vast majority of the ocean is a rather boring area.
When Ballard found the invertebrate tubeworms living in 600+ degree water,under extreme pressure 2-3 miles down,feeding off bacteria with zero sunlight it was probably one of the most significant scientific discoveries ever,It showed that life could exist under very strange and harsh conditions...since then though your right...meh to the ocean!
Something I've been wondering
If they suck and recover organisms from the abyss and bring them up to the surface to study, wouldn't that kill the organism? If those organisms have evolved in such a way to survive extreme temperatures and pressures, they would find our surface conditions to be too hot or cold and subjected to very low pressures than they are use to.
