James Cameron Completes Dive to Bottom of Mariana Trench

[Rob Williams]

This past weekend, film director James Cameron became the third person ever to dive to the deepest accessible point on earth, the Mariana Trench. Located in the western portion of the Pacific Ocean (east of Philippines), the deepest recorded point of the Mariana Trench is 10,990 meters (6.83 miles) below the surface. The pressure at that depth is equivalent to the pressure of 1,000 atmospheres - picture 3 full-sized SUVs sitting on one of your toes.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[OriginalJoeCool]

It's amazing we really don't know everything about even our own planet yet. This is very cool.

 

[MacMan]

James Cameron not only has more money than little old me, he's also got a lot more guts as well! It scares me to even think of doing what he did, so my hat off to him.

 

[Rob Williams]

It's amazing we really don't know everything about even our own planet yet. This is very cool.

I was thinking about this earlier. Here it was over 50 years ago when the first two people made it to the same point, and James Cameron becomes the third to follow in their footsteps. We live in a seriously tech-rich world, but there still exist a countless number of things that are not that feasible.

James Cameron not only has more money than little old me, he's also got a lot more guts as well! It scares me to even think of doing what he did, so my hat off to him.

No kidding! He said he was apprehensive before going on, but all the fear just disappeared once he got locked in. Still, the thought of going so deep had to be incredible. Light ceases to pass through the water at 1,000ft, and he went more than 30x deeper than that!

 

[Kougar]

Certainly something he will always remember.

 

[Brett Thomas]

"I see....black. Black. And...more black."

All jokes aside, that's seriously cool...though I wonder why James Cameron, a film director, instead of a real scientific crew would be the one making this journey. It's an awesome thing to say "yeah I did it," but I'm so very much with Rob on the idea that there's SO much we haven't learned yet...I think that with his money, I would personally pay for someone who could really actually do something with that experience, rather than chalk it up to a random personal accomplishment where little was gained.

It's not as if he didn't have any science as the core of the mission, I understand...the craft was designed by he and his team and as Rob said, lots of competing missions. So I guess maybe he felt he should be the first just in case it went bad? Still, he made the trip. Now if a scientist had done it instead, could we maybe have learned a little more?

 

[Kougar]

I sort of assumed he did it not for the accomplishment (Hadn't heard anything towards that at all) but rather because he wanted to explore, and perhaps find new inspiration for future creatures. Some of the most exotic, weird, freaky, and unbelievable creatures live at those depths, and seeing them in person, actually moving around (unlike a few photos of them) would have to provide a great deal of inspiration for any future films he was a part of.