James Cameron gets ready to dive to the Mariana Trench
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[i]52 years ago, the Bathyscaphe Trieste carried the first two, and only human beings to ever touch the deepest point in the ocean.[/i]
[release][b]Hollywood director James Cameron may be close to making a dive to the deepest place on Earth.[/b]
In a one-man submarine, [b]he plans to dive 11km (seven miles) down beneath the waves to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, in the western Pacific.[/b]
[b]There has only ever been one dive there, and that was half a century ago.[/b]
Mr Cameron and his team have set sail to reach the trench and are now waiting for a clear stretch of weather to begin the dive.
The BBC met up with the director in Guam, just before he set out for the high seas. This tiny tropical island is the nearest major landmass to the Mariana Trench - the focus of Mr Cameron's ambition.
In the balmy heat, the team was making last-minute preparations for this journey to the deepest depth in the seas.
The Abyss and Titanic director has had a long-standing obsession with the oceans, but now he has created for himself the ultimate part.
In a prototype submarine, called the Deepsea Challenger, that fits just one person, he plans to make the first manned mission to the bottom of the trench for 50 years.
He says he came up with the idea while he was using submersibles to film a documentary on the wreck of the Bismarck, a German battleship that lies 4,800m (17,500ft) underwater.
[b]"I started to think about what would it take to go deeper, what would it take to go to full ocean depth - that was kind of the holy grail from an engineering standpoint,"[/b] he told BBC News.
[b]"So you start 'noodling' up designs, and thinking how it would be possible and what would it take. And then there is suddenly this moment that seems to transpire with no transition where you are suddenly doing it."[/b]
He adds: "I seem to have that curse that once I imagine something being built, I have to build it."
Mr Cameron and his team have spent the last few days in Guam, docked at the port, re-supplying the ship that has been their home for the last few months.
They arrived straight from Papua New Guinea, where the filmmaker performed a successful 8,200m test-dive. But the ultimate challenge will be to see whether their vessel can plumb the ocean's deepest depths.
They will need calm seas to launch and recover the sub - but while in the harbour, a strong wind has blown in, white caps topping the waves.
The team are doing everything they can to make the sub as safe as they possibly can - but the weather is out of their control.
The craft, which is housed on the ship's deck in a large, air-conditioned hangar, is bright green, [b]weighs 11 tonnes and is more than 7m (23ft) long.[/b]
Once in the ocean, it flips on its end, and descends vertically through the water column.
[b]The compartment in which Mr Cameron will spend his nine-hour dive is tiny: a thick, metal sphere with an internal diameter of just 109cm (43in). He will be curled up inside, unable to stretch his arms or legs.[/b]
The rest of the sub is made from specially designed syntactic foam, similar to the sort of thing a surf board is made from.
It counterbalances the weight of the pilot's compartment, [b]which will have to keep the filmmaker safe from 1,000 atmospheres of pressure.[/b]
The submarine has been built and designed by an Australian team of engineers - many of whom have worked on James Cameron's films. And a lot of elements of the craft come straight out of the movie industry.
Australian engineer Ron Allum, who co-designed the sub with Mr Cameron, is an expert at creating rigs that attach hi-tech cameras to submersibles.
But the Deepsea Challenger is the first submersible that he has built from scratch.
[b]It is packed full of 3D cameras and huge lighting systems so that the director can capture the excitement of the voyage all the way to the bottom.[/b]
The straps that keep the pilot's sphere attached to the foam have been created by Dianna Bisset, who designs harnesses used in films and stage productions that help actors and dancers to "fly".
Even the life-support system has a theatrical link: its project manager John Garvin spent years playing the lead in the hit musical Buddy.
Mr Cameron fondly describes the 30-strong group as an "extremely talented, rag-bag bunch".
He says: "They have to be the kind of people who don't accept the normal limitations.
"They all have to be a bit 'whacked' to think it is possible to do something that is normally the province of governments or scientific instructions."
The director plans to release a documentary with footage captured on his dives - but he also has science in mind.
The sub, which has been financed by Mr Cameron along with National Geographic and Rolex, [b]is fitted with robotic arms that can bring sediment, rocks and samples of deep-sea flora and fauna back up to the surface.[/b]
[b]When he attempts the Mariana dive, a science team, headed up by Doug Bartlett from the Scripps Institute, will be dropping a lander - also kitted out with 3D cameras - which is baited to attract any passing life.[/b]
Mr Cameron says: "Every single dive, I'm going to see something no-one's ever seen before.
"I'm going to do my best to image it, light it properly, bring it back in 3D - grab samples if I can, grab rocks if I can.
"We are there to do science, but we are also there to take the average person who only imagines these things and show them what it is really like."
Don Walsh, who made the first and the only manned mission to the Mariana Trench with Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard in 1960, has joined the team at sea for the dive.
The former US Navy captain has been bombarded with questions by the crew about his vessel, the bathyscaphe Trieste.
He's happy that 50 years after his dive, someone could finally be about to go back.
He says: "This sub looks a little bit different from the way ours did, but I can see our fingerprints all over, 50 years later here.
[b]"Our legacy of manned exploration was all of the technologies and innovations that we begat."[/b]
As the team set off from Guam, friends, family and colleagues their colleagues wave and cheer until their ship fades into the distance.
If they can get a few days of good weather on their side, the team hopes to first make an unmanned 11km dive with the sub, to check it works properly at this deepest of ocean depths - and then it will be time for James Cameron to enter the craft and take the reins.
He tells the BBC: "I think the apprehension is before you are in the sub. Once I'm in the sub, I'm in the office, open for business.
"Who knows what we might find - every dive will be a revelation. That I can say for sure."
The dive will be a colossal test for this sub.
But given the risks involved, it will also be a huge gamble for Mr Cameron himself.[/release]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17399978[/url]
Videos in the link.
[U]Things to do before I die:[/U]
[del]Be the 3rd person to dive to the Challenger Deep.[/del]
Be the 4th person to dive the Challenger Deep.
I'm happy that were diving there again. It's like going back to the moon in a way. Though I can't say I'm not jealous that it's not me.
Good luck, and I hope it sparks interest in ocean exploration. I thought for damn sure it would be Richard Branson going down 3rd.
Damn that must be one uncomfortable ride
Good for him.
[QUOTE=HazeFyer23;35213024]Damn that must be one uncomfortable ride[/QUOTE]
9 hours in a teeny steel tube. I struggle with 4 hours in a comfy car.
By the way, how cold is it down there? Got heater?
why does the sub look like someone trying to plug a giant flash drive into the ocean floor
Wasn't he going to do this to get ideas for Avatar 2?
[QUOTE=Chinook249;35213095]9 hours in a teeny steel tube. I struggle with 4 hours in a comfy car.
By the way, how cold is it down there? Got heater?[/QUOTE]
43 inch diameter titanium sphere with a tiny, probably 5in diameter window.
[editline]19th March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Last or First;35213103]why does the sub look like someone trying to plug a giant flash drive into the ocean floor
Wasn't he going to do this to get ideas for Avatar 2?[/QUOTE]
"It counterbalances the weight of the pilot's compartment"
Titanic 3: Dive Even Deeper
That would be terrifying to do.
He's got some serious guts.
[QUOTE=Pteradactyl;35213244]That would be terrifying to do.
He's got some serious guts.[/QUOTE]
I think he has a fascination with underwater things in general
I would be somewhat terrified, but the cramping would be worse.
Those look like Plasma gun from Warhammer 40k.
[QUOTE=HazeFyer23;35213024]Damn that must be one uncomfortable ride[/QUOTE]
Knowing Cameron, he'll probably be cuddling with his RED camera on the whole ride down and whispering sweet lullabies into its microphone port.
There is one thing that irks me about this whole thing.
Why not make the sub even a little bit bigger so the person inside of it can be in a less restricted position, especially if they have to be in that position for [I]nine hours[/I].
[QUOTE=Grasp;35213598]There is one thing that irks me about this whole thing.
Why not make the sub even a little bit bigger so the person inside of it can be in a less restricted position, especially if they have to be in that position for [I]nine hours[/I].[/QUOTE]
The bigger you make the sphere, the thicker it has to be. Titanium is not cheap. It just raises the cost of everything.
Fuck yeah, I've been waiting to see what it looks like at the bottom since second grade.
Oh wait.
[img]http://www.smarterscience.com/images/kaiko1-copyrighted.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=hl2poo;35213692]Fuck yeah, I've been waiting to see what it looks like at the bottom since second grade.
Oh wait.
[img]http://www.smarterscience.com/images/kaiko1-copyrighted.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
Yeah. We've done it with a drone before. Does that mean we shouldn't put people there?
does james have something to occupy him during the long ass ride, i'd go insane fast without something keeping me occupied
Didn't the windows during the first attempt start to crack? I'd be terrified going that deep as it was, but seeing the windows crack would make me faint.
The outer window cracked on the Trieste on the way down. Though window technology has gone a long way since then so it should be fine.
Hope he doesn't get stuck down there.
[QUOTE=Dysgalt;35213864]Hope he doesn't get stuck down there.[/QUOTE]
Just like the Trieste, it's positively buoyant. Meaning it floats unless weighed down by something. There's weights on the bottom that will be dropped when they want to send it back up.
[QUOTE=Vodkavia;35213433]The claustrophobia would be worse, that and being within less than two feet away from water that could crush you like a grape.[/QUOTE]
Speaking of Claustrophobia...
[img]http://i.imgur.com/KEzs0.jpg[/img]
[url]http://deepseachallenge.com/the-sub/pilot-sphere/[/url]
"It is packed full of 3D cameras and huge lighting systems so that the director can capture the excitement of the voyage all the way to the bottom."
i'm going to love watching all nine hours!
Something goes wrong and the whole Fox board commits suicide.
I bet there are a shit ton of odd creatures down there.
Maybe there is Atlantis down there
He must be pretty cocky considering he named it the Deepsea [B]Challenger[/B].
Let's hope its nothing like the Space Shuttle Challenger
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster[/url]
[QUOTE=OvB;35213910]Just like the Trieste, it's positively buoyant. Meaning it floats unless weighed down by something. There's weights on the bottom that will be dropped when they want to send it back up.[/QUOTE]
Didn't the Trieste have a diving error? Or am I thinking of another deep sea sub?
[QUOTE=BrickInHead;35213942]"It is packed full of 3D cameras and huge lighting systems so that the director can capture the excitement of the voyage all the way to the bottom."
i'm going to love watching all nine hours![/QUOTE]
Well duh, like movies and documentaries its going to be sped up. But the most thing you are going to see is white on blue.
[QUOTE=luverofJ!93;35214212]He must be pretty cocky considering he named it the Deepsea [B]Challenger[/B].
Let's hope its nothing like the Space Shuttle Challenger
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster[/url][/QUOTE]
i'm doing a report on that right now. the explosion was caused by nasa being dumbasses and pushing for the rocket to fly in weather that their o-rings couldn't sustain.
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