A robotic submarine, using Carnegie Mellon University technology, navigated to the bottom of the world’s deepest sinkhole, Mexico’s El Zacatón, forever changing the way scientists explore the vast depths of the ocean and far reaches of space.
The NASA-funded Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) found the bottom of the cenote—a geothermal sinkhole—at 318 meters. Divers previously dove to 282 meters, considered well below the “safe zone,” but no human or robot had ever touched bottom. The exploration resulted in several surprising discoveries, says Dr. David Wettergreen, associate research professor at CMU.
“We expected a lot of variation as we changed depth, that perhaps the chemistry and organisms would change,” explains Wettergreen. “We found the water volume to be very homogeneous. The cenote is uniformly covered with biomass that is surviving without light just from the chemistry in the water. That was an interesting discovery.” Scientists catalogued six new forms of bacteria to date and expect more as testing continues.
DEPTHX’s untethered movement allows scientists to navigate in difficult, closely confined areas that have been previously impossible to explore. CMU software controls its movements; the robot relies on numerous sensors to make its way through mapped and unmapped territory.
The long range goal is to use the technology in outer space where it could one day navigate through places like Jupiter’s moon Europa. To see the cenote maps, click on the Robotics Institute’s DEPTHX Web site here.
Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Dr. David Wettergreen, CMU
Image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University