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James Cameron’s Deep Sea Challenge 3D

James Cameron’s Deep Sea Challenge 3D documentary opens in theaters on Friday, 8 August.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8r_-79SjpA&w=700]

The documentary tells the story of Cameron’s voyage to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth.

One little-known fact about Cameron’s Deep Challenge project is that two filmmakers died in a helicopter accident during the production — another indicator of the hazards of working at sea. This is comparable to the three astronauts who died during the Apollo program.

Rumor says that James Cameron is one of two citizen explorers who have agreed to pay Space Adventures $150 million apiece for a circumlunar flight on a Russian Soyuz, becoming the first humans to visit the Moon since Apollo 17.

Space Adventures lunar expedition vehicle fires engines on its way to the Moon

Written by Astro1 on August 2nd, 2014 , Citizen Exploration, Oceanography
Cameron reaches Challenger Deep

Filmaker and citizen explorer James Cameron has successfully piloted the Deepsea Challenger (also known as the “vertical torpedo”) to the deepest spot on Earth – the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench 300 miles southwest of Guam. (See the National Geographic report here.)

The Challenger Deep, 6.8 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, has only been explored once before. That was in 1960 by the bathyscaphe Trieste carrying Swiss explorer Jacques Picard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh. The Trieste could only spend 20 minutes on the ocean bottom, however. Cameron spent about six hours on the bottom, filming the entire journey with 3D high-definition cameras. His submarine was also equipped with a sediment sampler, a robotic claw, and a “slurp gun” for picking up biological samples. Among the scientists waiting to see the samples are NASA astrobiologists. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Astro1 on March 26th, 2012 , Astrobiology, Citizen Exploration, Oceanography
Deepsea Challenger

UPDATE: See more recent post Cameron Reaches Challenger Deep.

Filmaker and citizen explorer James Cameron has constructed the world’s deepest diving submersible. Piloting the single-seat Deepsea Challenger, he hopes to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth. Cameron is not alone in his venture, however. He is working with the National Geographic Society, Rolex, the Alfred Sloan Foundation, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Guam.

Cameron has already tested the Deepsea Challenger at depths of up to 26,000 feet, as reported in this CNN video.

The Challenger Deep, 6.8 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, has only been explored once before. That was in 1960 by the bathyscaphe Trieste carrying Swiss explorer Jacques Picard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh. The Trieste could only spend 20 minutes on the ocean bottom, however. Cameron expects to spend six hours on the bottom, filming the entire journey with 3D high-definition cameras.

At least three teams are now trying to reach the Challenger Deep once again. Competing teams are led by Sir Richard Branson, who has launched the Virgin Oceanic project, and Patrick Lahey of Triton Submarines, LLC.

The competitors may hope to win a proposed Deep Human Submersible X-Prize. The prize is still under development, according to the X-Prize website. If Cameron is successful in his current attempt, it seems doubtful that the prize will be in place in time for him to win it.

The Deepsea Challenger is a great model for a citizen-science/exploration project conceived and run by a nonprofessional scientist with significant input from and participation by professional scientific organizations. It should be noted that the cost and technical complexity of a deep-diving submersible are comparable to a suborbital vehicle. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, a wealthy enthusiast like Cameron will buy an XCOR Lynx or Armadillo Hyperion and begin his own space-science research program.

Virgin Oceanic video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sk_XEHfqwk&w=700]

Written by Astro1 on March 8th, 2012 , Citizen Exploration, Citizen Science (General), Oceanography