There have been two exploratory events undertaken by wealthy private citizens in the past week, and they both highlight the forgotten mysteries of our planet, namely those in our oceans.
James Cameron rode down seven miles to the deepest point in the Earth’s crust, the Mariana Trench (which is located in the west Pacific). His submersible was loaded with cameras and he plans to do a TV special for National Geographic, followed perhaps by a 3D theater release. Sure, this may have been a cheap stunt to promote the re-release of Titanic, but still, it was a bold move.
Then, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos used state-of-the-art SONAR to find the Apollo 11 rocket engines that were jettisoned into the Atlantic ocean during its successful trip to the moon. Using his own personal fortune, he located and plans to raise the engines, which will be donated to museums.
These all reminds us just how much of our own planet we don’t even know much about yet. In a time when seemingly nothing new is discovered (in the natural world, anyway… besides the world’s smallest *insert animal here*), the watery depths still offer us many opportunities to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Leave it to the rich and powerful to push the limits of human exploration.
ReplyDeleteSure, when the government has given up on trying anything new.
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