Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-25-2012 06:00 PM
Just arrived at the ocean's deepest point. Hitting bottom never felt so good. Can't wait to share what I'm seeing with you.
— James Cameron, after becoming the first person in history to solo dive to the deepest place on Earth, a record 35,756 feet.
National Geographic reports on Cameron's journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.
Folded into a sub cockpit as cramped as any Apollo capsule, the National Geographic explorer and filmmaker is now investigating a seascape more alien to humans than the moon. Cameron is only the third person to reach this Pacific Ocean valley southwest of Guam — and the only one to do so solo.
Hovering in what he's called a vertical torpedo, Cameron is likely collecting data, specimens, and imagery unthinkable in 1960, when the only other explorers to reach Challenger Deep returned after seeing little more than the silt stirred up by their bathyscaphe.
Credit: Mark Thiessen, National Geographic
After as long as six hours in the trench, Cameron — best known for creating fictional worlds on film (Avatar, Titanic, The Abyss) — is to jettison steel weights attached to the sub and shoot back to the surface.
Meanwhile, the expedition's scientific support team awaits his return aboard the research ships Mermaid Sapphire and Barakuda, 7 miles (11 kilometers) up.
posted 03-25-2012 08:33 PM
I have been following this expidition online for a few weeks. It is an amazing piece of deep sea exploration. Fingers crossed for a safe return.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-25-2012 10:43 PM
Cameron surfaced safely at around 9 p.m. CDT Sunday.
After a faster-than-expected, roughly 70-minute ascent, Cameron's sub, bobbing in the open ocean, was spotted by helicopter and would soon be plucked from the Pacific by a research ship's crane. Earlier, the descent to Challenger Deep had taken 2 hours and 36 minutes.
Before surfacing about 300 miles (500 kilometers) southwest of Guam, Cameron spent hours hovering over Challenger Deep's desert-like seafloor and gliding along its cliff walls, the whole time collecting samples and video.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2454 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 03-26-2012 04:07 AM
A tremendous feat.
Just an odd thought. Are there any major engineering considerations between constructing a container to withstand the threat of implosion and one made to withstand the threat of explosion? Cameron's vessel had to survive huge external pressures, whilst spacecraft have to survive internal pressure.
spaced out Member
Posts: 3110 From: Paris, France Registered: Aug 2003
posted 03-26-2012 06:22 AM
I'm not an expert but if I believe that the internal pressure on the hull of a spacecraft in a vacuum is about the same as the external pressure on a submarine's hull at 10m (30') depth. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is around 1,000 times higher than this.
spaced out Member
Posts: 3110 From: Paris, France Registered: Aug 2003
posted 03-26-2012 08:36 AM
An update to my earlier post after a bit more amateur research...
The Lunar Module was the only spacecraft with a hull designed only to withstand the pressure differential between the manned interior and the vacuum outside (without the need to resist re-entry forces). Apparently it was pressurized to only 4.8psi (about 1/3 sea level air pressure) which is equivalent to about 12' under water.
So in fact the hull of Cameron's vessel needs to be around 3,000 times stronger than that of a lunar lander, or any other spacecraft designed to operate only in a vacuum.
spaced out Member
Posts: 3110 From: Paris, France Registered: Aug 2003
posted 03-26-2012 08:42 AM
Incidentally, something that strikes me about both this, and the freefall record attempt is that these privately-funded ventures can be a bit frustrating for the public to follow due to the commercial nature of the footage they generate.
The projects need to produce exclusive documentaries as part of the funding which means that the we can't see the best footage until some time after the events.
Imagine for a moment if Apollo 11 had been privately funded...
And Armstrong is about to step off the ladder... Okay folks, that's it for our live coverage! You'll be able to see what happened next in an exclusive pay-per-view documentary coming to cable in the fall.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2454 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 03-26-2012 09:09 AM
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I accept the pressure differences are not the same. My query was more concerned with construction of vessels where in one the pressure was pushing out and one where the pressure was pushing in.
dom Member
Posts: 855 From: Registered: Aug 2001
posted 03-26-2012 03:24 PM
quote:Originally posted by spaced out: And Armstrong is about to step off the ladder... Okay folks, that's it for our live coverage! You'll be able to see what happened next in an exclusive pay-per-view documentary coming to cable in the fall.
That's the funniest thing I've read for a long time - but so true!
Cameron is rumoured to be interested in Space Adventures $150 million trip around the moon but is waiting on another billionaire to take the second seat. I hope he gets to do it but I'm sure it WILL be a pay-per-view flight.
cspg Member
Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
posted 03-27-2012 06:40 AM
quote:Originally posted by dom: I hope he gets to do it but I'm sure it WILL be a pay-per-view flight.
You wanted private/commercial spaceflight, you got it (sounds like the opening of a KISS concert!). As for enjoying it, well, get your checkbook or credit card.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-27-2012 11:17 AM
Here's the first footage released (for free!) from the ocean floor:
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 03-27-2012 02:38 PM
quote:Originally posted by cspg: You wanted private/commercial spaceflight, you got it (sounds like the opening of a KISS concert!).
Well, if it IS like a KISS concert, than all I can say is: "She wants a rocket ride, She wants a ROCKET RIDE!"
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-27-2012 08:35 PM
I think anyone interested in the adventure of space exploration ought to appreciate the significance of this achievement. Well done, James Cameron. This is not just dabbling in some minor adventure. This is cutting-edge.
posted 03-29-2012 11:50 AM
For those of you that haven't seen the actual August 1960 edition of the National Geographic Magazine, I would highly recommend viewing one. There is a lot more visual information not seen on the National Geographic website.
My favorite illustration in the magazine is one showing a scale drawing of the relative separation distance between the Trieste and Wandank (tug) at 500 feet; then stating that an additional 27 feet of paper would be necessary to show the relative separation at maximum depth!
Congratulations to James Cameron and the entire team involved in this project. (note: the December 1960 National Geographic has the article about Joe Kittinger's highest jump. "The Long, Lonely Leap".)
bwhite1976 Member
Posts: 281 From: Belleville, IL Registered: Jun 2011
posted 03-30-2012 08:52 PM
If Cameron were to be interested in space exploration in the same way that he is with underwater exploration, I have no doubt he would have gone into orbit already. Or would at least soon be getting there through his own innovations and curiosity.
jtheoret Member
Posts: 344 From: Albuquerque, NM USA Registered: Jul 2003
posted 03-30-2012 09:00 PM
I read somewhere that speculates Cameron is interested in doing the Space Adventures lunar mission.
posted 03-25-2012 06:00 PM
advertisement