Making the nearly 7-mile (11-kilometer) descent to the deepest
place on Earth, exploring the ocean floor, conducting
experiments, collecting samples, and returning safely to the
surface requires a craft unlike any other—a “moon lander” for a
place less understood, more forbidding, and perhaps less
forgiving than the farthest reaches of space. The challenge is
every bit as daunting as building a vehicle to take a person to
Mars. Conditions at the unexplored frontier of Earth’s deepest
point are perhaps even more extreme than they are on the moon.
The pressure of the ocean so many miles beneath the waves is
crushing, the water is near freezing, and there is perpetual
darkness. You are surrounded by dramatic geology at the edge of
Earth’s colliding tectonic plates, and who knows what forms of
life are out there beyond the range of your lights. If anything
goes wrong, it’s a long, long way home. Incorporating new
technologies, designs, and materials, the submersible DEEPSEA
CHALLENGER is the product of years of d