Category: Deep Sea

Deep Sea Europa Nasa Oceans Space

NASA dropped a space exploration robot into Cape Cod’s waters to reach the darkest unknowns

sudshr47 March 1, 2019

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When the Orpheus drone emerged from the waters off of Cape Cod in September 2018, deep sea biologist Tim Shank felt relieved. Four and a half years earlier, Shank, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), had sent a state-of-the-art exploration craft to crushing ocean depths — but the vehicle never returned.  

Only shattered pieces of plastic drifted back up to the surface world.

This time, the new exploration robot Orpheus passed its first test: The machine dove alone into the darkened sea for an hour, without any human control. Critically, the drone came back. Enthusiastic about Orpheus’ return, Shank said he fired off an email to his ocean exploration colleague, the filmmaker and deep sea explorer James Cameron. Read more…

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Deep Sea Longform Oceans Science Space

Why we need an underwater space race

sudshr47 January 17, 2019

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As midnight neared, we bobbed around in the black Caribbean Sea aboard a rubber dinghy. There were five of us out there, peering down into the undulating, forever darkness. We scoured the water for signs of a telltale light, coming from below.

A yellow submarine — the same one that seven years previous captured the first deep sea footage of a giant squid — was expected to return to the surface after spending five hours in the ocean depths off of Eluethera, a snake-shaped island in The Bahamas.

“There!” yelled a crewmember, pointing 50 feet off the dinghy. And there the water began to glow, an emerald radiance amid the black sea. The shine grew brighter and brighter until the submersible’s bubble-like capsule, holding three humans, popped out of the water. On cue, a crewmember balanced on the edge of the dinghy, lunged into the water and swam over to the exploration craft, preparing to hook it to a looming 184-foot vessel called the Alucia, which would soon hoist the yellow submarine from the sea, and end the night’s mission. Read more…

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Deep Sea Marine Science Ocean Exploration Octopus Science

Watch as a ghostly creature swims through dark waters off the California coast

sudshr47 October 24, 2018

On Tuesday at some 10,000 feet beneath the sea, marine scientists spotted a little-seen octopus swimming through the dark, black waters.
A robotic Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) piloted by the Ocean Exploration Trust filmed this genus of Octopus, …

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Deep Sea Meteorites Nasa Ocean Exploration Science

NASA is searching for meteorites that splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. Here’s why.

sudshr47 July 1, 2018

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On March 7, 2018, NASA planetary scientist Marc Fries watched on a weather radar as meteorites plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

Four months later, on July 2, Fries and a group of marine researchers plan to pull these meteorites — chunks of primordial space rocks — out of the sea. No one has ever retrieved a meteorite from the ocean before, he said. But the effort is well worth it.

These particular space rocks, he said, are different.

“This one is special,” said Fries, in an interview. “This one is tougher than your typical meteor.” 

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Deep Sea Marine Biology Natural History Oceans Science

Strange, alien-looking deep sea creatures revealed in new ocean videos

sudshr47 June 5, 2018

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While traversing the seafloor in a pressurized bubble 3,200 feet beneath the ocean, marine photographer Gavin Thurston spotted an odd creature, about the size of a football. 

“It looked like a mix of four animals,” said Thurston.

He shone a light on it, for a better view.  

“Clearly this beasty — whatever it was — didn’t like the light,” he said, and it danced away on its silken thread-like legs, out of the glow. 

It appeared to be a sponge, but covered in siphons, like pistons in a car engine thrusting up and down. It wore a crown of tentacles, which grabbed tiny critters out of the water. Read more…

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