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
You probably *could* do that. The problem is that just dropping a fiber optic line with a camera and light on the end down into the depths of the ocean isn’t very useful. Without any method to move it around or point it at things all you have is several thousand feet of fiber optics with a camera flopping on the end.
Of course you could add in some kind of stabilizing structure, mounting points for propellers and their associated housings so they can be pointed in various directions, power supplies and electronics to control all those things, maybe some kind of manipulator and collection devices so you can take samples… But at this point what you are making is a tethered submersible. We have those.
Latest Answers