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Interviews: Dr. Robert Ballard Answers Your Questions
A while ago you had a chance to ask former Navy officer, professor, and famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard about shipwrecks, his work with the Ocean Exploration Trust, his learning programs, and what he's found on his expeditions. Below you'll find his answers to your questions.
Autonomous robotic vehicles
by kalpol
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?
Dr. Ballard: Yes there are. Go here to learn more.
Most interesting problem
by overThruster
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?
Dr. Ballard: When we lost the HUGO/JASON system on its first lowering in the Mediterranean in 1989 and had to recover them from 3,000 feet of water and be back in the water for our live JASON Project shows to 250,000 students waiting for the broadcasts in less than a week.
What are the unsolved underwater engineering problems that you think are most important?
Dr. Ballard: Solving engineering problems are much easier than convincing “the community” to accept a new way (technology) of doing something.
SOSUS
by dciman
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?
Dr. Ballard: Ocean bottom observations are spreading across the ocean floor and will eventually be commonplace making it difficult for submarines and unmanned vehicle to sneak up on us.
Pollution
by Anonymous Coward
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!
Dr. Ballard: It is not so much what we can see (plastic, coke cans, etc.) which is not that much in the deep remote areas we explore, it is what we cannot see like acidification of the ocean water, its increased temperature, and the presences of other chemicals we continue to dump into the sea that concerns me.
Iron Bottom Sound; Kirishima
by Shakrai
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.
Dr. Ballard: We plan to return to Iron Bottom Sound in the 2018 timeframe so stay tuned.
Electronic still camera
by fnj
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.
Dr. Ballard: To my knowledge those Marquest camera systems have been replaced but once you are “signed out” of a world you lose contact with what follows.
Danger
by Major Blud
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.
Dr. Ballard: There were several times when I was diving in submersibles and bathyscaphe when I feared for my life of those of others when they were diving and I was topside – when the fire broke out in the ARCHIMEDE bathyscaphe during Project Famous in 1973, when ALVIN got stuck in a fissure in 1974, when we crashed into the side of a fault scarp in the Mid-Cayman Rise in 20,000 feet of water in the bathyscaphe TRIESTE II I 1977, and when the DELTA submersible became entangled in fishing nets while diving on the LUSITANIA.
Space
by GoCrazy
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?
Dr. Ballard: I have been asked to help in the design of the Europa vehicle system and plan to visit JPL in the next month of so.
by kalpol
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?
Dr. Ballard: Yes there are. Go here to learn more.
Most interesting problem
by overThruster
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?
Dr. Ballard: When we lost the HUGO/JASON system on its first lowering in the Mediterranean in 1989 and had to recover them from 3,000 feet of water and be back in the water for our live JASON Project shows to 250,000 students waiting for the broadcasts in less than a week.
What are the unsolved underwater engineering problems that you think are most important?
Dr. Ballard: Solving engineering problems are much easier than convincing “the community” to accept a new way (technology) of doing something.
SOSUS
by dciman
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?
Dr. Ballard: Ocean bottom observations are spreading across the ocean floor and will eventually be commonplace making it difficult for submarines and unmanned vehicle to sneak up on us.
Pollution
by Anonymous Coward
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!
Dr. Ballard: It is not so much what we can see (plastic, coke cans, etc.) which is not that much in the deep remote areas we explore, it is what we cannot see like acidification of the ocean water, its increased temperature, and the presences of other chemicals we continue to dump into the sea that concerns me.
Iron Bottom Sound; Kirishima
by Shakrai
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.
Dr. Ballard: We plan to return to Iron Bottom Sound in the 2018 timeframe so stay tuned.
Electronic still camera
by fnj
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.
Dr. Ballard: To my knowledge those Marquest camera systems have been replaced but once you are “signed out” of a world you lose contact with what follows.
Danger
by Major Blud
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.
Dr. Ballard: There were several times when I was diving in submersibles and bathyscaphe when I feared for my life of those of others when they were diving and I was topside – when the fire broke out in the ARCHIMEDE bathyscaphe during Project Famous in 1973, when ALVIN got stuck in a fissure in 1974, when we crashed into the side of a fault scarp in the Mid-Cayman Rise in 20,000 feet of water in the bathyscaphe TRIESTE II I 1977, and when the DELTA submersible became entangled in fishing nets while diving on the LUSITANIA.
Space
by GoCrazy
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?
Dr. Ballard: I have been asked to help in the design of the Europa vehicle system and plan to visit JPL in the next month of so.
I would've wanted a bit more elaboration on some of his answers, but certainly an intriguing interviewee. Going into a deep sea submersable take far more faith in engineering than I have - so props for that.
He sounds like a lot of fun at a party.
Too lame, didn't read
Just kidding. I read all 8 sentences of his replies to our 10 questions. The guy is a genius with an eye for brevity and precision, not to mention a talented explorer and leader, but would it have killed him to spend more than ONE sentence explaining the FOUR times he almost died?
There are those in oceanography who would tell you that Bob's submersibles are pressurized by his own overinflated ego. But I guess haters gonna hate. FWIW my grandpa met him once and speaks highly of him, and he answered a letter one of my cousin's wrote to him. And the JASON system is fucking rad.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
There are those in oceanography who would tell you that Bob's submersibles are pressurized by his own overinflated ego.
You can have a big ego if you can back it up. I only know of Mr. Ballard by reputation and by reading about what he's done but I don't think there is a long list of people who can match his accomplishments in his field. Sour grapes maybe?
I heard this guy talk a few years ago. Really good high tech stuff going on.
http://web.mit.edu/deeparch/ww...
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
We've worked with Dr. Ballard - he's incredibly personable which is what distinguished him from a lot of his naysayer colleagues. I've seen him talk to a student who just happened by for 20 minutes about whatever stuff they both found cool.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
You couldn't get Bobert Ballard?
sic transit gloria mundi
I've heard Ballard lament on the state of the Titanic after tours put useless plaques down on the wheelhouse, etc. Surprised to see a lack of anyone asking how (or if) he is doing anything to help preserve the site, or if anything can be done. How does one archive and exploit a shipwreck by photographing/exploring a tragic scene, yet chastise others for bringing artifacts to the surface to protect them, and display them to a public that's curious because of the very exploration and photography that you instigated?
How does one archive and exploit a shipwreck by photographing/exploring a tragic scene, yet chastise others for bringing artifacts to the surface to protect them, and display them to a public that's curious because of the very exploration and photography that you instigated?
It's kind of the difference between photographing a grave site versus digging up bits of the coffin for souvenirs. The artifacts didn't need "protecting" and were only brought up for personal gain. (monetary, reputational, etc) It's the difference between cataloging a grave and plundering it. There is nothing wrong with finding out what happened to the Titanic. It's quite something else to exploit a tragedy for personal gain.
You are our last hope, Dr Ballard.
Yiiipppppeeeeeee, Dr. Ballard. I got First Post on Slashdot!!!!!! Yipppppeeee for me!!!! Yipppppeeee for you too!
What is your question?
Yiiipppppeeeeeee, Dr. Ballard. I got First Post on Slashdot!!!!!! Yipppppeeee for me!!!! Yipppppeeee for you too!
What is your question?
Dr. Ballard, when you make a new scientific discovery, do you say "Yipppppeeeee!!!!!!" or "Eureaka!!!!!!"??? I like Yipppppeeeee!!!
How do you do 3d reconstruction of underwater wrecks? I am not really sure but I think that there is a 3D model of the Titanic. How did you do that? Do you only use sonar data? Or do you use s.th. similar to computer tomography (with sender and receiver on both sides of the ship)? Or - at least for the Titanic - did you use video material for 3d reconstruction? How then do you do tracking and localization of every image/video frame (I mean GPS does not work underwater)? How many video material do you need for a nice 3D model? Thanks a lot!
I notice he didn't touch that question about the American nuclear sub Scorpion. Too sensitive? Things they don't want us to know? A US Navy military grave? Or just the US Navy's sphere and he wants to stay clear?