Cameron's Historic Dive Cut Short by Oil Leak

[n2doc]

Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published 5:00 a.m. ET, March 26, 2012

In what he called a "heckuva ride," James Cameron came "screaming back up" from Earth's deepest point in about 70 minutes Monday, breaking the Pacific Ocean surface on Monday at noon, local time (10 p.m. ET Sunday).

...

"I didn't feel like I got to a place where I could take interesting geology samples or found anything interesting biologically."

This may be, in part, because a hydraulic fluid leak convinced Cameron to end the mission after about three hours. Previous projections had him surveying and sampling Challenger Deep and its life-forms for as long as six hours.

"I saw a lot of hydraulic oil come up in front of the port. The port got coated with it," he explained.

more

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120326-james-cameron-mariana-trench-fluid-leak-fish-science-sub/

[jberryhill]

1. Awesome! Go to a pristine place and spew hydraulic fluid!

[postulater]

2. Sheesh! Who built the damn pod?

Don't they test those before sending a live subject down in it?

Leaking oil is unacceptable, could have killed him.

And it just doubled the cost of the mission cuz he only did half of what he wanted to do and will have to go back again.

[Posteritatis]

3. Anyone who expects a 100% guarantee of perfect safety in a new environment's delusional. (nt)

[postulater]

4. I'd rather be delusional about important

stuff like hydraulics than dead.

And if it wasn't an important function he wouldn't have had to cut his mission short and haul ass back up.

[jberryhill]

5. I thought it was hydraulics on a manipulator arm

Not a critical system.