TEXT: The deepest point on Earth …
TEXT: Where no human has gone in over 50 years …
MONTAGE: Trieste video
Jacques Cousteau used to say if we knew what was there, we wouldn’t have to go.
TEXT: National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron has a specially designed sub …
TEXT: 8 years in the making …
And he’s doing the dive by himself.
So, it’s a one man crew. So any problems that come up during the dive I’ll have to solve them myself.
Communications with the surface will be difficult They may be spotty We may not even have voice communication.
TEXT: In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh traveled in the Trieste to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
TEXT: They spent 20 minutes on the bottom.
TEXT: No images were captured because the sub stirred up silt …
TEXT: leaving almost no visibility.
TEXT: Cameron’s DeepSea Challenger is fully equipped with lights and cameras.
TEXT: The 1960 descent took nearly 5 hours.
TEXT: The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER will reach the bottom in about an hour …
TEXT: and can spend hours on the bottom.
You can get a sense of how thick the steel is… in the hatch. To withstand the pressure at that depth.
This is a steel sphere.. this is where the pilot goes.
TEXT: Inside, the pilot must keep his knees bent and cannot extend his arms.
We’ve got the fact that when you’re diving 7 miles down and back up 7 miles in a big empty ocean, The sub may not return to where it’s supposed to be. And the search and recovery crew will have to find it and get you out.
TEXT: The pilot is literally bolted inside.
You can’t get out. We may complete the dive, get all the way in and out to the surface, and have a potential hazard on the surface of being trapped inside the sub.
TEXT: The risks …
Yeah, of course I’m worried. Worry is a good thing When you’re an explorer. I think when you’re cavalier, when you take risk for granted, That’s when you’re going to get bitten.
TEXT: What will he see?
TEXT: Drop cameras have given us only a glimpse of what can be seen on the way down …
We know we’;re going to see very strange animals.. . like amphipods …. Other kinds of invertebrates.
TEXT: and of what’s at the bottom.
But science can’t answer one very basic question … Are there fish?
They think maybe not, because the calcium in their bones actually would dissolve at those extreme pressures.
TEXT: He’ll take samples with a mechanical arm and capture video …
The idea here is to prove that this machine and these new technologies can provide a platform for science.
TEXT: In the coming weeks, Cameron will make his historic dive …
SUPER: Terry Garcia, Exec. VP for National Geographic Mission Programs
“We’re going to go deeper than anyone has gone before. And we’re going to allow the public to ride along with us. So that you, too, can experience what Jim Cameron is experiencing. “
ENDSCREEN:
For in-depth coverage of the expedition to the Mariana Trench
follow DEEPSEA CHALLENGE and National Geographic at http://deepseachallenge.com.
