Why is exploring the ocean floor more difficult and dangerous than space travel?

(Dan Tri) - Many people think that it would be easier for a ship to dive to the bottom of the ocean than to launch a spacecraft into space. However, scientists do not think so.

Although humans have been exploring the ocean floor for thousands of years, the seafloor remains a mystery. According to 2022 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), only about 20% of the ocean floor has been explored and mapped by humans. Scientists often say that traveling to space is easier than diving to the bottom of the ocean. "In fact, we have a more detailed map of the surface of the moon and Mars than we do of our own planet," said Gene Feldman, a retired oceanographer who worked for NASA for more than 30 years.

true — Exploring the ocean floor is more difficult and dangerous than traveling to outer space (Illustration: AWSN).

One of the reasons why humans are limited in exploring the deep ocean floor is that the deeper you go underwater, the greater the water pressure. In addition, the deeper you go, the further away from the sunlight, making the space dark and almost impossible to see. The water temperature at the bottom is also extremely low. In short, the deeper you go into the ocean, the higher the risk, even when using the most advanced submersibles.

History of human exploration of the ocean floor

The first submarine in history was built by Dutch engineer Cornelis Drebbel in 1620, when Drebbel was working for the British Royal Navy. This submarine could carry 16 crew members, stay underwater for 3 hours and dive to a depth of 4-5m. Of course, the submarine built by Cornelis Drebbel could not be used for the purpose of exploring the ocean floor.

A major turning point in human exploration of the ocean floor occurred in 1960, when the deep-sea exploration submersible Trieste made an expedition to the Challenger Deep, located 10,911m below the sea surface.

The Challenger Deep, located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest place known to man. Jacques Piccard (son of the ship's designer Auguste Piccard) and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh were the first to successfully make the expedition to the Challenger Deep on the ship Trieste.

Oceanographer Gene Feldman said the Challenger Deep expedition was an extremely dangerous trip, even more dangerous than the moon landing. According to NOAA, for every 10 meters (33 feet) below the surface of the ocean, the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere (atmosphere, a unit of pressure). That means that to reach the Challenger Deep, a submersible would have to withstand the pressure equivalent to the weight of 50 jumbo jets. At such pressure, even the slightest defect in the structure of the ship would lead to disaster.

What lies at the bottom of the deep ocean?

The deep areas of the ocean floor (from 6,000m deep) are called the dark seas (hadal zone, named after Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology). In the hadal zone, no sunlight can penetrate and the water temperature is only slightly above freezing. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Massachusetts, USA), scientists first proved that life existed in the hadal zone in 1948. During a trip down to the Challenger Deep, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh saw rocks that could be chemical sediments, giant amphibians, sea cucumbers and many other strange creatures...

According to NOAA, they once filmed a video of a living creature about 18m long at a depth of less than 6,000m in the sea near Japan in 2012. Gene Feldman said that an unusual world of creatures and a completely strange ecosystem exist in the dark seas, such as creatures with the ability to glow bioluminescent to communicate, lure prey or attract mates; or sea creatures with huge sizes...

However, scientists still do not know how many species of marine life live in the dark seas. Scientists say that at the bottom of the deep ocean, chemical reactions occur when cold seawater seeps through cracks in the seabed and is "heated" by lava, causing the seawater to reach temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius. This chemical reaction will create minerals containing sulfur and iron, and vents on the seabed will spew out nutrient-rich water, supporting ecosystems and marine life living in deep water areas. Scientists continue to explore the mysteries of the deep ocean floor with unmanned submersibles that can withstand great pressure. Recently, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NASA have collaborated to develop an autonomous submersible that can withstand pressures 1,000 times greater than the pressure at the surface of the sea. The ship will help explore and discover the diversity of marine life, as well as the surface terrain of the deep ocean.

Why is mapping the ocean floor so important?

Mapping the ocean floor will help scientists understand how the shape of the sea floor affects ocean currents and where marine life appears. It also helps to provide early warning of the risk of earthquakes. In addition to its geographical value, the sea floor is also considered a "gold mine" containing useful compounds that can lead to biomedical breakthroughs. For example, the drug Cytarabine, extracted from sea sponges, was approved in 1969 to treat acute myeloid leukemia. Some active ingredients in cone snail venom can be used as painkillers, or proteins in some jellyfish can serve the process of cancer research... However, exploring and mapping the ocean floor is not easy, so until now humans have not been able to complete it. "Only a very small percentage of the deep ocean has been explored and seen by humans. A very small area of the ocean floor has been mapped and drawn by humans," Gene Feldman shared.

Besides the dangers and harsh conditions of the ocean floor, another reason why seabed exploration activities are limited is cost. Submarines equipped with modern technology to explore and remap the seabed are often very expensive. Even the fuel cost for such a ship to operate can be up to more than 40,000 USD per day. Of course, until now, humans have not given up on exploring the mysteries of the ocean floor and with new technologies, hopefully one day, humanity will have the clearest view of deep waters tens of thousands of meters below the sea surface. Quang Huy

June 24, 2023

Dantri.com.vn