# James Cameron to spend several hours in Mariana Trench
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 8, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152 "2012-03-08T15:54:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/61 "2012-03-26T17:35:32Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Anybody with Google Maps can do that.
Use caution.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/62 "2012-03-26T17:36:20Z")
> [@Icerigger](#):
>
> I remember Bob Ballard’s response when he was asked about diving the trench. “It’s just a mud hole and not very interesting”.
While I suspect the smart money is on that being true, that seems to be a bit of risk to say. How much of that place has been photographed or looked at. We here all know about the famous 20 minutes in one small spot. How much else has been looked at with remote vehicles? Not very much I suspect. Yeah, harsh deserts are boring as hell too but there are the occasional spots of great interest.
I hope that Cameron lets some actual researchers use this thing (and funds it too) to get some significant “lets look around” time down there. You never really know until you take a good look around.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/63 "2012-03-26T17:39:39Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> Once. In 3019. For 12 days.
we prefer to use 1419 (Shire Reckoning).
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/64 "2012-03-26T18:25:12Z")
And several more dives planned. I hope you’ve got all your fingers and toes ready **Lobohan**
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/65 "2012-03-26T18:27:04Z")
But what year is this? And how long did he stay for?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/66 "2012-03-26T18:28:46Z")
I don’t get it. Did we need another thread on this topic?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/67 "2012-03-26T18:38:34Z")
I merged **Lobohan** ’s thread into this one. Posts 54, 55, and 64-66 were originally part of that thread.
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/68 "2012-03-26T18:45:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> I merged **Lobohan** ’s thread into this one. Posts 54, 55, and 64-66 were originally part of that thread.
Yeah, I somehow missed this one. I thought I was being clever.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/69 "2012-03-26T18:46:44Z")
> [@Frodo](#):
>
> we prefer to use 1419 (Shire Reckoning).
Little know fact. While Hobbits were sticklers for precision and tradition, due to their very cloudy climate their astronomy skills sucked. Because of that they had no idea that a leap day was needed every so often. These three facts lead to their demise. After many years their calendar was so far outa wack they were planting spring crops as winter was approaching. Eventully they all starved to death.
And now you know the rest of the story.
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### Author:  [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/70 "2012-03-26T21:32:50Z")
How did I know there was gonna be a hate thread here. 🆒
Damn you Cameron…Damn you to hell…:mad:
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/71 "2012-03-26T21:40:15Z")
He probably read all those anti-Avatar threads in Cafe Society and decided he was going to spend a couple tens of millions to screw up our beloved meme.
If he kills Opal and goes back in time to show that 1920’s style death rays were actually ineffectual and generally kind of lame, we’ll know he’s out to get us.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/72 "2012-03-26T22:24:15Z")
But there’s still enough salt in the ocean to cover the moon knee-deep, right?
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### Author:  [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/73 "2012-03-27T03:11:03Z")
> [@Icerigger](#):
>
> I remember Bob Ballard’s response when he was asked about diving the trench. “It’s just a mud hole and not very interesting”.
“But just wait till you see this shit in 3D! It’ll be like you’re watching _actual_ mud!!!”
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/74 "2012-03-27T03:15:31Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I’m more interested in the craft itself. Does it have a window? If so, how thick is the glass or plastic? How will he retrieve biological samples and how will they not depressurize and explode when brought to the surface? How long does it take for the descent and ascent?
>
> Seems to me to be a pretty risky adventure. A sudden catastrophic end to this trip is a possibility and not a chance I would take.
In particular, I was wondering how the Deepsea Challenger attains positive buoyancy. The bathyscape design of the old _Trieste_ was dictated by the fact that a strong enough pressure hull was too thick and heavy to be positively buoyant, and so needed the large gasoline-filled container as a float. How does the new design work?
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/75 "2012-03-27T13:19:51Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> But there’s still enough salt in the ocean to cover the moon **knee-deep** , right?
Yep, just the way lunar frogs like it.
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### Author:  [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/76 "2012-03-28T05:50:48Z")
I’m glad that somebody did this again and expected the scenery to be no more exciting than the Moon. Though the Moon did have that blue marble as a contrast to the grayness.
Having succeeded in the mission, I’d prefer that they went a little bit less deep next time and perhaps that would allow them to stay longer. Maybe just go six miles down next time. I curious about the sea animals that aren’t have a little less pressure and coldness to deal with and so are able to grow larger than the size of an aspirin. What I’d really like to see is an underwater space station that is manned long-term. It seems that we know less about what is five miles below us than what is a thousand miles above.
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### Author:  [@CCYMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCYMan)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/77 "2012-03-28T13:22:26Z")
This is why I love the Dope.
When I saw this news article, the first thing I thought was “for how long, 20 minutes?” And I KNEW there would be a thread!
Thanks SDMB!
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/78 "2012-03-28T16:35:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> In particular, I was wondering how the Deepsea Challenger attains positive buoyancy. The bathyscape design of the old _Trieste_ was dictated by the fact that a strong enough pressure hull was too thick and heavy to be positively buoyant, and so needed the large gasoline-filled container as a float. How does the new design work?
[Everything you need to know about Deepsea Challenger](http://deepseachallenge.com/the-sub/systems-technology/)’s construction, including why it’s buoyant.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/79 "2012-03-28T17:25:57Z")
> [@Morgyn](#):
>
> [Everything you need to know about Deepsea Challenger](http://deepseachallenge.com/the-sub/systems-technology/)’s construction, including why it’s buoyant.
Ah, syntactic foam. It’s been used on submersibles before but they had to invent a new kind that could take deep abyss pressures.
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### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-cameron-to-spend-several-hours-in-mariana-trench/615152/80 "2012-04-10T04:40:30Z")
[XKCD](http://xkcd.com/1040/large/) with a graphical interpretation of the depths…
Fun fact: The Edmund Fitzgerald, The Kursk and The Lusitania all sank In water shallower than they were long!
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