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Interviews: Ask Robert Ballard About Ocean Exploration
samzenpus writes A former Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, Robert Ballard is one of the most famous ocean explorers in the world. He is best known for his discoveries of hydrothermal vents, the Titanic, and the German battleship the Bismarck. Ballard is the "Explorer-in-Residence" for the National Geographic Society. He works extensively on exploration through telepresence capabilities and distance learning programs including the JASON Project, which reaches more than 1 million students. His latest work involves the Ocean Exploration Trust, the organization that manages his exploration ship the E/V Nautilus. The ship carries with it two ROVs named Hercules and Argus that explore the seafloor in real-time online. Dr. Ballard has just concluded the 2014 season and has agreed to answer your questions. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.
Would you explain how easy or hard the search for Malaysia Airlines (MH) #93 must be?
Mr. Ballard - Do you plan to explore the Black Sea for potential paleolithic settlements? What are your thoughts on the possibilities of such settlements, and what they would mean for human history? Thanks! - Cliff Berg
I've always imagined fleets of tiny, relatively inexpensive autonomous vehicles exploring the oceans, sending their data back to be aggregated and mapped. Are there any projects of this sort happening?
12:50 - press return.
When is Seaquest coming back?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
First, thank you for taking time to answer our questions and for the amazing work you have done both as an explorer and an author! My favorite book of yours to date is The Discovery of the Bismarck.
I have two questions:
What is the most interesting underwater engineering problem you've had to solve in your career?
What are the unsolved underwater engineering problems that you think are most important?
First off, I have to thank you for finding the Titanic about two months after I did a junior high school report on the Titanic. That just about blew my mind and helped encourage a fascination with science and technology that continues to this day.
My question though is about the USS Scorpion. As one of very few people who has seen the remains of the USS Scorpion, is there anything you can share about what might have caused her to sink?
Thank you from a longtime member of NGS. Your work has always been a positive counterbalance to some of the "what were they thinking?" projects the Society has funded.
In the 1950's and 1960's, considerable funding and human cost led to a realization of the dreams of science fiction writers who imagined people in outer space. Humankind has not yet achieved all of those dreams, but even far-flung ideas like teleportation are increasingly within our grasp as we learn more about the hidden universe that we are part of.
At the same time science fiction authors were writing about outer space, several of the same envisioned detailed human exploration and colonization of the oceans of inner space. Could you please comment on why you believe humankind has yet to make an equally bold move into the oceans? Thank you and Godspeed on your next adventure.
Loved the show you hosted a number of years about about the development and implementation of the SOSUS system. Can you speculate or comment on the types of next generation technologies that could potentially fill in some of the gaps we now have with the reduction in traditional SOSUS effectiveness against quiet(er) ships from other nations? Presumably we still have to keep track of other countries missile and attack subs, is that much harder now than in the past?
Thanks!
Dr. Ballard, Growing up I watched you on the epilouge segments of SeaQuest DSV. My question for you is this; How long do you think it will before we actually start colonizing the ocean the way SeaQuest DSV depicts? Is there anything we can do to get the process moving? Thanks, A Long Time Fan
"Chance favors the prepared mind." ~Me
Just how true to life is "The Life Aquatic?"
Interesting game, Professor Falken. It seems the only winning move is not to play.
Mostly random stuff.
Dr. Ballard --thank you for your exploration work, and for making science and oceanography exciting to all of us!
A question: during your exploration of the deep sea, how prevalent or visible are the effects of human activity, i.e pollution, noise from ships, increased acidity due to more CO2 on the atmosphere, and the like? Do we even know enough to see if we are affecting as a species these ecosystems as critically as those on the surface of the planet?
Thank you and best for you and your crew in future expeditions!
He is best known for his discoveries of hydrothermal vents, the Titanic, and the German battleship the Bismarck.
The second "the" is redundant; the name of the ship was simply "Bismarck", not "The Bismarck".
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Dr. Ballard: You're probably better known for the discoveries of Titanic and Bismarck, but I've always been more fascinated by your expeditions in the Pacific, specifically Iron Bottom Sound. Would a follow up expedition with more modern technology be a worthwhile endeavor? I would most interested in seeing another exploration of Kirishima, since the circumstances of her battle damage and loss have recently come into dispute.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Are any of the Marine Imaging Systems deep submergence electronic still cameras (circa mid 1980s) still in operation? With or without the original Heurikon based topsides?
Please accept my appreciation for your enabling an important part of my career. My work with MIS and Marquest Group was a happy time of fond memory.
I heard that we're not sure whether the Challenger Deep is really the deepest spot in the ocean. Is that true? If it is, I'm surprised that we don't have sonar and satellite data to know fore sure. What's keeping us from getting the data?
I was also surprised that Challenger Deep is flat (not what I'd expect a trench to be like). Can you give us an idea of the scale of the place and what the topography is like?
Hi,
you have ROVs on board so I presume you also would have some kind of DP system installed to hold the vessel still while operating those.
Do you have a DP?
Thanks,
Andy
Ballard took nothing from the sites. All that nonsense was done by other "entrepreneurs".
I know that quite a bit of the exploration that you've done has been with ROV's, but you've also been down in the deep yourself in the Alvin submersible. Was there ever a time during one of your expeditions where you feared for your life?
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, and for helping to inspire my interest in science. I was a young when the Titanic and Bismarck were found, and I can still remember the excitement and wonder I felt during those two events.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
Are we running out of sand?
What are your thoughts on the prospect of undersea mining?
You've probably heard about NASA's potential exploration of planetary bodies with water (yes! real water!) such as Europa, which is known to have solid ice water on the surface, but possible liquid water beneath. Would you consider moving your expertise on oceanography to more space based programs, with the possibility that your discoveries on Earth could be the same on these other planets?
No beer and no TV make Homer something something
Let us play a thought game, for a moment.
Imagine a giant penis flying towards your mouth, and there's nothing you can do about it. And you're like "Oh man, I'm gonna have to suck this thing", and you brace yourself to suck this giant penis. But then, at the last moment, it changes trajectory and hits you in the eye. You think to yourself "Well, at least I got that out of the way", but then the giant penis rears back and stabs your eye again, and again, and again. Eventually, this giant penis is penetrating your gray matter, and you begin to lose control of your motor skills. That's when the giant penis slaps you across the cheek, causing you to fall out of your chair. Unable to move and at your most vulnerable, the giant penis finally lodges itself in your anus, where it rests uncomfortably for 4, maybe 5 hours.
That's what using Slashdot is like.
We don't have to imagine it.
You inadvertently left your webcam on and we saw it all happen. - you and you brother, at it again.
Your work on a certain luxury liner is very well documented. However, it's harder to find details about your work to locate and study the wrecks of U.S.S. Thresher and U.S.S. Scorpion.
How much of this is still classified? What good publicly available source(s) would you recommend to learn more about these missions?
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Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/