James Cameron, the legendary director of Titanic and Avatar, dived today 7 miles deep to the Pacific's Mariana Trench, the deepest point on earth. So deep that only two men in man's history went there and it was 50 years ago - but Cameron is the first to make the trek alone. Since, no one went deep in the Mariana trench as it needed not only a special submarine able to resist to the phenomenal water pressure - can you imagine the pressure 7 miles deep in the ocean - 11 km, more deep than Mount Everest is high!
At this depth there is no light at all but there is probably amazing species which are also able to resist to the incredible pressure. James Cameron and his team designed an amazing "vertical" submarine - the Deepsea Challenger - and he went down there ALONE in the sub. He filmed for National Geographic - in 3D of course! - everything he saw in the abyss and we will have a documentary very soon.
When James Cameron resurfaced today after plunging to the deepest known point in the world's oceans in his one-man submersible and his solo venture to Challenger Deep, part of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, left him feeling "complete isolation from all of humanity," he said. "I felt like I literally in the space of one day have gone to another planet and come back." "The bottom was a very soft, almost gelatinous, flat plane, almost featureless, it's a completely alien world". Did he met the kind of large life forms that some might dream up? Nope but ""We'd all love to think there are giant squid and sea monsters down there. We can't rule it out, but my bet is there aren't. What you're going to find is these very, very interesting animals, the likes of which we've never seen before, that have adapted to this extreme environment."
He said he did not see fish at such depth. "The only free swimmers I saw were these little ... shrimplike animals," scavengers that devour potential food that falls, such as dead fish or whales.
It's a cold, dark, "completely black world that's devoid of sunlight" and warmth, he said. The full trip took about seven hours. The sub, Deepsea Challenger, outfitted with special cameras and robotic arms, is able to dive vertically at speeds of 500 to 700 feet per minute and can withstand immense pressure - up to 16,000 pounds per square inch!
Pure "Cameron" trip, nothing is stopping James! I supposed that now that he has been as deep as one can go he will probably have to go as far as possible in space. By the way, i'm still surprised that he's not been yet in the Space Station and filmed it in 3D...don't worry, this should happen anytime soon!
Videos: copyright National Geographic, CNN.com
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