Mariana Trench depth is only 11 kilometers, tens of thousands of times closer than the distance of Earth to the Moon which reached 385 thousand kilometers. But the people who set foot on the moon more than a foot into the valley beneath the sea, 200 miles southwest of this Guam. Until now only two men who reached the Mariana Trench, the deepest in the ocean. Once the pressure is equal to three cars SUV with a total weight of 1 ton on our fingers.
Cameron's Deepsea Challenger. (Picture from: http://www.inquisitr.com/) |
Now James Cameron, director of the film Avatar, Titanic and The Abyss, will follow in the footsteps Switzerland oceanographers, Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Capt. Don Walsh, to explore the Challenger Deep in the depths of 10,991 meters, the deepest point in the ocean. In the coming days, Cameron will be the first to dive into a depth of nearly 11 thousand meters in the South Pacific.
James Cameron |
After exploration Piccard and Walsh, no longer human beings came. Nirawak submarine was sent to the trenches to explore, but there are major differences between the look of a computer monitor and see firsthand.
Cameron plans to dive using a manned submersible green one named Deepsea Challenger. Cameron became involved in the design of the submarine along 7.3 meters.
Cameron's Deepsea Challenger. (Picture from: http://www.inquisitr.com/) |
"This is the last-new frontier for science and exploration on the planet," said Cameron told The Associated Press. "Diving is done to draw public attention to the sea and the continued exploration in the future." We need to understand the oceans before we destroy life in it." Cameron planned to narrow the gap will be in it for six hours. He wants to make a documentary with National Geographic underwater, including film footage of three-dimensional (3D).
Deepsea Challenger Submarine and Sea Level. (Picture from: KORAN TEMPO 3828) |
Craig McLean, Head of Research National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called Cameron a hero. "It inspires people, how little we know about our planet," said McLean. "We do not need to look at the sky to discover what's out there. We have it in our oceans."
Exploring the deepest place in the ocean is not an easy journey. Andy Bowen, director of the marine laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in America, had control of unmanned submarine Nereus to that point for 13 hours in 2009. He described the hole as the icy darkness. "The most remote and harsh environment in the face of this planet," he said.
McLean said the atmospheric pressure of 1.000 was not crushed the bone, but to "eliminate." Cameron said that if there is a leak, the pressure will destroy it so quickly that he did not have time to scream. But the opportunity to reach a dangerous place it was so exciting. Cameron had felt the majesty and grandeur of the place even though she has to dive to a depth of it. Last week (13/03/2012), when testing the vertical submarine that weighs 12 tons, Cameron tried another trough near Papua New Guinea. Although only 8.200 meters deep, Cameron has been the single deepest dive record.
Veteran director was fascinated by the sea anemone-like hanging gardens and throbbing jellyfish. "They're very ancient and very simple," said Cameron. "The thought that popped into my head was definitely very proud of God on the day he created a jellyfish." But Cameron's plan to dive to the Challenger Deep is highly dependent on the weather calm and on time to conserve battery submarine. In 1960, Walsh and Piccard took almost 5 hours to get to the bottom of a trench.
Cameron has a specific strategy. He plans to reach the bottom of a trench as quickly as possible and collect all the necessary on the seabed as well as turning all the lights. The diving in nearly freezing water was estimated to take 90 minutes, so the power to support the exploration for 56 hours it still remains insufficient.
Although the trench was dark and deserted, the pressure is too great for ordinary fish-there is life there. Small shrimp-like animals, sea anemones, worms with hairy legs, and sea cucumbers live on the Challenger Deep. "Exploring the trough is like looking at the past because they are so isolated from the sea and circulation," Bowen of the WHOI said "It's going to reveal something about the biological history of this planet."
Don Walsh, who is now 80 years old, told him and Piccard saw small fish glittering in the dark. Fish that glow like light reflecting off the snowflakes. On that dive, he could hear the sea animals out there. But once the ship touched the bottom of the dust and mess up the sand on the sea floor, he could not see anything.
Cameron is not just the one who interested in exploring the Mariana Trench. Telecommunications and aviation entrepreneur, Richard Branson, also took an interest in the region (Read more.) So did the founders of Google, Eric Schmidt, who funded the project DOER submarines. *** [AP | REUTERS | TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 3828]