Post date: Mar 26, 2012 8:25:40 PM
AT SEA, NEAR MARIANA TRENCH, PACIFIC OCEAN (MARCH 25, 2012) (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC) - "Titanic" and "Avatar" film director James Cameron has reached the "Challenger Deep," the deepest part of the ocean, located in the Mariana Trench on Sunday (March 25). Cameron descended nearly 36,000 feet (11 kilometres) below the sea - deeper than any solo mission in history.
Film director James Cameron completes historic solo dive to the deepest part of the ocean.
In the historic solo dive, Cameron used a specially designed submarine called Deepsea Challenger to dive nearly 11 kilometres, about 200 miles (321 kilometres) southwest of the Pacific island of Guam.
He is only the third person to reach that depth. The lowest point of the Mariana Trench has been reached only once before in 1960 when U.S. Navy captain Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard spent 20 minutes there. Walsh was on hand send off Cameron on this record-setting day.
The 12-ton, lime-green sub called "DEEPSEA CHALLENGER" made the trip to the bottom in 2 hours, 37 minutes, much faster than the previous mission, allowing Cameron more time to film the Mariana Trench and collect samples for biologists and geologists to study.
The exploration is a joint project by Cameron, the National Geographic Society, and watchmaker Rolex that is being called the "Deepsea Challenge" and is designed to expand knowledge of unknown portions of Earth.