I understand bottom of oceans have huge pressure differentials and lack of light.
However I don’t see why we can’t use two fiber optic cables (one for light one for camera) to explore the bottom of the ocean. When I say fiber optics for camera I mean the slender cameras they use during surgeries.
I’m sure these strands of plastic/glass can handle way more pressure than human body or metal submersibles.
In: Engineering
The answer is more among the lines of “how much does outfitting, insuring and sending a ship with full crew and scientists (all of which expect salary) to the middle of ocean and use expensive equipment to record some seafloor mud – daily?”
It’s being done here and there of course, but imagine that insane cash flow put into trying to cure cancer or invent better batteries or cure crop diseases or whatever. Science – like everything else – is not free and generally, must serve some sort of greater purpose. Most universities, governments and even private parties just can’t afford and/or justify such expeditions.
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