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Science & Technology

Explorer achieves deepest ever undersea dive

By T.K. Randall
May 13, 2019 · Comment icon 6 comments

Vescovo has broken James Cameron's record. Image Credit: YouTube / The Five Deeps Expedition
American explorer Victor Vescovo has broken the world record by reaching a depth of nearly 7 miles.
The 53-year-old made several trips to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean as part of an ambitious mission to chart the deepest parts of the sea.

Sealed within a submersible vehicle known as The Limiting Factor, Vescovo succeeded in beating Titanic director James Cameron's deep-diving record when he descended to a depth of 35,853ft in Challenger Deep - the southern end of the Mariana Trench.

"Going to the extremes I believe is a natural inclination of man," he said.

"I think it is a wonderful part of human nature that makes us want to push ourselves to the limits, which has helped propel us as a species to where we are now."
Part of his mission was to determine if the trench descended to depths exceeding those measured by oceanographers Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard in their Bathyscaphe Trieste submersible in 1960.

"I criss-crossed all over the bottom looking for different wildlife, potentially unique geological formations or rocks, man-made objects, and yes, trying to see if there was an even deeper location than where the Trieste went all the way back in 1960," said Vescovo.

So far the team has managed to map around 150,000 square kilometers of the deep sea floor.

"Those maps, once we've processed them and cleaned them up, they will get put on online repositories, so they will be made available to anyone who wants to use them," said expedition chief scientist Alan Jamieson.



Source: BBC News | Comments (6)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Carlos Allende 5 years ago
So, basically, a less James Cameron-y version of 'The Abyss'.
Comment icon #2 Posted by tmcom 5 years ago
Must be hot down there with all of that trapped heat?
Comment icon #3 Posted by cyclopes500 5 years ago
I know I'd be sweating. Depth 10994 m 36069.55 ft 6010.93 fathom Pressure 110439.57 kPa 1104.4 bar 1089.95 atm 16017.9 psi 828364.88 mmHg 32612.79 inHg
Comment icon #4 Posted by Myles 5 years ago
Another kink in the "we know more about space than we do about the ocean" thought.   
Comment icon #5 Posted by Troublehalf 5 years ago
Title mentions miles. Then it switches to feet. Then it mentions the team recording square kilometres. I wish we'd all just stick to metric. I dislike having to convert stuff in and out. I realise USA is a major country and uses imperial and as such news will reported in such measurements for them, but it's still a shame. Still, very impressive. Wonder if James Cameron will go for an one-up dive. It takes hours to get down that low, slowly, listening to the creaking of your hull, knowing one poorly tightened bolt could spell the difference between success and death.
Comment icon #6 Posted by Eldorado 5 years ago
Related reports... "Trash found littering ocean floor in deepest-ever sub dive" Full report at Reuters: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-environment-pollution/trash-found-littering-ocean-floor-in-deepest-ever-sub-dive-idUKKCN1SJ24L "Victor Vescovo descends 36,000ft into the abyss, finding plastic bags and four new species" At iNews: https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/mariana-trench-dive-victor-vescovo-depth-new-species-plastic/


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