

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Filmmaker James Cameron plans to soon dive in a specially designed submarine to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, earth's deepest point. No human has attempted such a dive since 1960.

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TEXT: The deepest point on Earth \u2026

TEXT: Where no human has gone in over 50 years \u2026

MONTAGE: Trieste video

Jacques Cousteau used to say if we knew what was there, we wouldn\u2019t have to go.

TEXT: National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron has a specially designed sub \u2026

TEXT: 8 years in the making \u2026

And he\u2019s doing the dive by himself.

So, it\u2019s a one man crew. So any problems that come up during the dive I\u2019ll have to solve them myself.

Communications with the surface will be difficult They may be spotty We may not even have voice communication.

TEXT: In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh traveled in the Trieste to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

TEXT: They spent 20 minutes on the bottom.

TEXT: No images were captured because the sub stirred up silt \u2026

TEXT: leaving almost no visibility.

TEXT: Cameron\u2019s DeepSea Challenger is fully equipped with lights and cameras.

TEXT: The 1960 descent took nearly 5 hours.

TEXT: The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER will reach the bottom in about an hour \u2026

TEXT: and can spend hours on the bottom.

You can get a sense of how thick the steel is\u2026 in the hatch. To withstand the pressure at that depth.

This is a steel sphere.. this is where the pilot goes.

TEXT: Inside, the pilot must keep his knees bent and cannot extend his arms.

We\u2019ve got the fact that when you\u2019re diving 7 miles down and back up 7 miles in a big empty ocean, The sub may not return to where it\u2019s supposed to be. And the search and recovery crew will have to find it and get you out.

TEXT: The pilot is literally bolted inside.

You can\u2019t get out. We may complete the dive, get all the way in and out to the surface, and have a potential hazard on the surface of being trapped inside the sub.

TEXT: The risks \u2026

Yeah, of course I\u2019m worried. Worry is a good thing When you\u2019re an explorer. I think when you\u2019re cavalier, when you take risk for granted, That\u2019s when you\u2019re going to get bitten.

TEXT: What will he see?

TEXT: Drop cameras have given us only a glimpse of what can be seen on the way down \u2026

We know we\u2019;re going to see very strange animals.. . like amphipods \u2026. Other kinds of invertebrates.

TEXT: and of what\u2019s at the bottom.

But science can\u2019t answer one very basic question \u2026 Are there fish?

They think maybe not, because the calcium in their bones actually would dissolve at those extreme pressures.

TEXT: He\u2019ll take samples with a mechanical arm and capture video \u2026

The idea here is to prove that this machine and these new technologies can provide a platform for science.

TEXT: In the coming weeks, Cameron will make his historic dive \u2026

SUPER: Terry Garcia, Exec. VP for National Geographic Mission Programs

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go deeper than anyone has gone before. And we\u2019re going to allow the public to ride along with us. So that you, too, can experience what Jim Cameron is experiencing. \u201c


For in-depth coverage of the expedition to the Mariana Trench

follow DEEPSEA CHALLENGE and National Geographic at\u00a0http://deepseachallenge.com.

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