The deep ocean is the final frontier on planet Earth

beneath the waves is a mysterious world that takes up to 95% of Earth's living space only three people have ever reached the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean the deep is a world without sunlight of freezing temperatures and immense pressure it's remained largely unexplored until now man a depth of 4290 meters as a species we've always explored it's just part of our DNA to walk over the next mountaintop and take that risk and learn something new now we're just starting to really explore the last French here which is ocean at the same time that we needed cutting-edge technology is enabling a new generation of aquanauts to explore deeper than ever before if you think for a moment that everything's been found that there's nothing left to do here's a place where it hasn't happened to graduate they are opening up a whole new world of potential benefits to humanity the risks are great but the rewards could be greater from a vast wealth of resources to clues about the origins of life the race is on to the final frontier too deep [Music] [Music] the Okeanos Explorer the American government state-of-the-art vessel designed for every type of deep ocean exploration from discovering new species to investigating shipwrecks on board engineers and scientists come together to answer questions about the origins of life and human history when I was a boy I wanted to be an astronaut instead I've been in submersible as an Aquanaut down to the deepest depth look at this I'm on it on a ship just off the coast of Hawaii playing with underwater robotics I mean to me that that's just awesome today the Okeanos is on a mission to investigate the wreck of World War one submarine dr. Beckmann Decker engineer Bobby Moore is part of a team who has developed the technology for this type of mission we go through check all the nuts fold hydraulic oil everything make sure everything works as it should we don't want to get down to the bottom of the ocean and find out things aren't working we are hands-on involved in these vehicles from start to finish I mean when we need a new part we design it when something breaks we fix it when it comes to going out on the ship and operating it where the pilot the deep discover a remote operating vehicle is equipped with 20 powerful LED lights and designs withstand the huge pressure for miles down equivalent to 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of a person this vehicle is equipped to handle all sides of deep-sea exploration these are brand new cameras that we got and they're just phenomenal we get detail that you can see in a man submersible through a porthole good decks player deck is clear copy that we're good we can proceed in the control room leading the expedition is Jim Delgado yeah this is asking guys if keep it up once the chief scientist mapping the Titanic Jim use deep-sea exploration as a whole new enterprise what we're doing is tapping into the final frontier beneath the ocean I can boldly go where no one's gone before I can seek out new life as well as evidence of past civilization ok drop in module 8 40-minute dive we can proceed you guys are ready to drive here we go [Music] she's not my son are in step 31 closer yep one more notch is 20 copy [Music] Merson target could be that current looks like it's coming north-south you have maybe bump me in ten meters [Music] we're approaching the stern [Music] look at that yeah that's good okay we are now has a submarine in sight we are at the stern on the starboard side okay we are on the site of f19 World War one vintage submarine settled in 1938 when you see a ship at the bottom of the ocean when you understand the human stories behind it it reminds us that this is the story of all of us bearing zero nine zero degrees B decimal 2 I'm seeing a fair amount of marine worms growing these wrecks are time stamps for us in terms of what the ocean does is to shipwrecks how it works as a platform for new life for habitation colonization by marine species move initiated that's a good copy thank you bridge stop sign you see that round structure this yeah let's zoom in on that if you don't mind it is a plastic plate gently so there we have it again modern trash I can't think of the place I go where I don't see modern trash everywhere okay we're good here we can keep going while the crew of the Okeanos send robots to investigate the deep some of their fellow scientists prefer a more hands-on approach dr. Greg stone is a world leading marine biologist with over 8,000 hours under the sea he has been exploring the abyss in person for 30 years we still have never been able to replace the experience and what a person can learn when they're in a submarine at depth looking out window as you go down you start brightly-lit day like so you go down into a Twilight Zone and it's like Twilight and the animals are there I'm looking through the porthole and you look down and it's darker and darker and darker it starts to get cold too and then you get below Twilight in you're in the perpetual dark room hasn't seen the light of day for billions of years it's like space exploration almost we're going where no one has gone before that's what I love and you end up with a very interesting and rich ecosystem incredible [Music] right here yeah oh my god [Music] everybody likes to discover new to me it's always fun and as soon as you get down into deep sea exactly kind of easy and that tells you something about the deep sea we have not been there much holy crap the technology opening up the deep is also opening up opportunity not just to witness the diversity of life but to glimpse vast amounts of rare mineral resources some of the world's most valuable metals can be found deep under the waves a discovery that has begun to pique the interest of the global mining industry the next frontier for mining is going to be in the ocean because there's a lot of these rare earth elements of minerals energy the boldest of mining companies are heading to the deep drawn by the allure of a new Gold Rush but to exploit it they're also beating a path to another strange new world in an industrial estate in the north of England SMD is one of the world's leading manufacturers of remote underwater equipment this is one of our tipsy mining machines its small prototype so half the size that you would see this is a remotely operated machine it's working up to 4,000 meters depth in some of the harshest conditions no we have a saying it's not like a client it's much more difficult enough the industrial technology the company has developed has made mining possible several kilometers beneath the ocean surface the top of a gold copper silver where the metals cobalt and all of those resources are potentially very valuable then absolutely necessary for the future prosperity of humankind with an estimated 150 trillion dollars worth of gold alone deep-sea mining has the potential to transform the global economy the companies with the permanent industry will be able to buy whole country but value is is almost immeasurable but at what cost with so much still to discover mining in the deep ocean could have unknowable impact there are so many secrets to be revealed very important and delicate balance in it we're currently at a depth of four thousand two hundred ninety meters an octopus is it looks like it they have never like ever seen Allan that's what the third excellent it's not just life today that may need protecting reaching the deep ocean might just allow researchers to answers and truly fundamental questions hydrothermal vents hot springs on the ocean floor are cracks in the Earth's crust some claim they could help scientists glimpse the origins of life itself one of the discoveries of the latter part of the last century was that there's these really hot vents coming out of the sea floor where at 32 group leaders these events have their temperatures are hundreds of these degrees Celtics kids been really hot and they created ecosystems down in the deep sea that are independent of sunlight every other life system on the planet as far as we know depends originally on sunlight but this did not and one point we thought hey I wonder if that's how life started and the question is still pretty wide open it's just incredibly exciting we're trying to manage spaceship earth we're traveling 67,000 miles an hour right now around the front everything we've ever had everything we ever will have is here and we need to Stewart it and figure out how this thing work how this spaceship work and the challenge is to manage that system with us a part of it so the humanity the modern world and the natural world can code [Music] we might still be years away from unlocking the mysteries of the deep even with the latest technology this kind of exploration is always challenging watch leave now and for we're major problems going on we just started to rock tapping standby fridge are we now we're drifting sweetie why don't you go wash leave know what's going on just bloody feet I'm sorry could you repeat that the ship lost dB Roger that okay so all hands we are aborting the dive we watch GPM so we're terminating dive on s 19 and recovering the ROV we had to terminate because the ship lost his direct position who couldn't just hold in place which means you're then taking on expensive instrument and leaving it to the mercy of the currents and you don't want to snag it so they'll have that RV up on the deck staff as the clue of the Okeanos comes to terms with a scale of the challenge and the opportunity that lies beneath what they and others discover could transform humanity's understanding of how to protect the ocean it's the most hostile environment on earth but the keys to our future may lie in the deep [Music] you

Channel: The Economist

Views: 6,096,874

Keywords: The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, News, short-documentary, okeanos explorer, okeanos, okeanos explorer documentary, the deep, the deep ocean, ocean, deep ocean mining, ocean floor mining, ocean gold mining, deep sea, deep sea exploration, deep sea exploration documentary, deep sea documentary, economist, the economist, economist video, economist films, sea, documentary, underwater, marine biology

Id: p0G68ORc8uQ

Length: 14min 48sec (888 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Wikiplay]

I cant believe people are trying to turn a profit by destroying the ocean floor. When will the hunt for $$$ come to an end.

[u/the-Real_Slim-Shady]

is it just me, or does everyone seem to have an inferiority complex regarding space exploration? Relax guys... you're doing cool shit.

[u/BizzyM]

Quick google searches:

Earth diameter = 5917.5 miles

Earth's crust = 30 miles thick (continental)

Ratio: .00507

Egg diameter (narrow): 44.5mm (average)

Eggshell: .311 mm

Ratio: .006989

From what I can tell, we haven't drilled to the mantle yet, so essentially, if earth were an egg, we haven't gone past the shell yet. I don't think the deep ocean qualifies as "the final frontier" on Earth.

[u/[deleted]]

Meaning the last place to be destroyed by people.

[u/Granjaguar]

Scary is like a new world, but we already want to take minerals from it

[u/GloriousBeast]

Annnnd that's how we get destroyed by the Kaiju

[u/Believe_Land]

I disagree it is the last frontier on this planet. We haven't even been deeper than the crust of the Earth yet.

[u/minnesotan_youbetcha]

Interesting to think that 9 more people have left our planet and have walked on the moon than total people that have been to the bottom of our own ocean. Really encapsulates the mystery of the deep ocean.

[u/[deleted]]

This documentary is so so.

It's more about exploring the ocean than about exploring or the ocean or the people. It's kind of a mish mash of cheesy quotes and music with very little footage of ocean exploration. It's pretty bad