180 



36,000 feet below sea level. Restricted in ma- 

 neuverability, it carried 34,000 gallons of 

 aviation gasoline to provide buoyancy for the 

 pressure capsule and other equipment. Tlie 

 deepest dive for a maneuverable submersible 

 was 8,310 feet in early 1968. 



The Navy presently is building or develop- 

 ing, among others, four types of manned 

 vehicles with operating depths as noted: 

 rescue at 3,500 to 5,000 feet, research at 6,500 

 feet, search at 20,000 feet, and ocean survey 

 with depth characteristics still undeter- 

 mined. The desirable operating depth of a 

 rescue vehicle is established bj' the depth of 

 a possible rescue mission. The best depth 

 limitation for commercial vehicles is the 

 most economical depth to do the job, prob- 

 ably to 2,000 feet for foreseeable continental 

 shelf and nearshore work. 



Successful operations for oceanographic 

 purposes below 2,000 feet require new tech- 

 nical principles which are expected to be 

 valid all the way to 20,000-foot depths. Al- 

 though the initial investment may be slightly 

 higher, no immediate improvements in early 

 program schedule or near-term costs would 

 occur if these vehicles were designed for 

 depths less than 20,000 feet. The same types 

 of problems must be solved. By going di- 

 rectly to these problems, overall costs would 

 be less than for a program having depth goals 

 set in progressive increments. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency sponsor an explicit program to 

 advance deep ocean fundamental tech- 

 nology and proceed with a National Proj- 

 ect to develop and construct exploration 

 submersibles with ocean transit capa- 

 bility for civil missions to 20,000-foot 

 depths. 



Ideally, several such submersibles should 



be completed in time for useful assignments 

 in the forthcoming Decade of Ocean Explor- 

 ation. These vehicles should have hovering, 

 maneuvering, sample-taking, and small ob- 

 ject recovery capabilities as well as improved 

 sensing capability. A National Project for 

 a long endurance 20,000-foot exploration 

 submersible will be not only a major U.S. 

 contribution to the Decade, it would be a 

 milestone in the history of exploration and in 

 oceanography. 



Instruments 



While man-in-the-sea and manned submer- 

 sible techniques are essential to true oceanic 

 exploration, by far the largest and most inex- 

 pensive source of data will be from unmanned 

 systems. Placement, maintenance, and recov- 

 ery of such systems will depend on the access 

 that men have to the environment. Otherwise, 

 their effectiveness depends only on their relia- 

 bility; quality of sensors; and capability to 

 record, store, and occasionally transmit 

 information. 



No deep-placed, reliable, accessible instru- 

 ment platform is available today. However, 

 such equipment, monitoring oxygen and 

 many other physical and chemical param- 

 eters, is both possible and essential. Even- 

 tually, many thousands of such units may be 

 needed. They must be able to sense a wide 

 range of physical and chemical characteris- 

 tics. In order to achieve increasing effective- 

 ness, there also must be a concerted effort to 

 improve the quality and range of the sensors 

 and the reliability and variety of packaging 

 and handling techniques. 



Important to such a system will be a whole 

 class of free-fall devices independent of a 

 wire, anchor line, or stationed vessel. These 

 devices could be dropped by passing ships or 

 aircraft. They then may serve their useful 

 life just during the fall to the bottom or 

 remain active on the bottom until picked up 



