GWR 2024 Look Inside - Flipbook - Page 4
FIRST SUB TO VISIT THE OCEANS’ DEEPEST POINTS
DSV LIMITING FACTOR
A passion for exploration has seen Victor Vescovo (USA) rack up a
string of GWR titles. He’s best known for his many depth-defying dives
into the oceans’ uncharted reaches – adventures only made possible by
a game‑changing deep‑submergence vehicle (DSV): Limiting Factor.
GPS beacon
Starboard and strobe light
modem
Cockpit
Oxygen
cylinders
The heart of Limiting Factor, this two-person
cabin remains at a constant one atmosphere
of pressure (the same as at sea level), so
no decompression is required for ascents.
Inside are two leather seats, 14 oxygen
cylinders, a joystick for steering and all the
other controls needed to pilot the sub.
The name
Limiting Factor
was inspired by a
spacecraft in writer
Iain M Banks’s sci-fi
Culture series.
One of two
ejectable lithiumpolymer battery
bays (for a total
65 kWh of power)
Deepsea Challenger, 2012
On 25 Mar, film director James
Cameron (CAN) navigated to a
depth of 10,908 m (35,787 ft) –
the first solo descent into the
Challenger Deep. He spent 2 hr
38 min on the seabed.
Fendouzhe, 2020–
Also reusable, this vessel
descended into the Challenger
Deep 13 times in Oct/Nov.
The deepest dive, to 10,909 m
(35,790 ft), was a new record
for a Chinese submersible.
Titanium cockpit, machined
to a 99.933% spherical form
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Hatch
hinge
Pacific Ocean: Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench – 10,935 m (35,875 ft)
Vertical
tie bars
18-in-wide (45.7-cm)
entrance/exit tube
Atlantic Ocean: Puerto Rico Trench – 8,374 m (27,474 ft)
Sonar
On 1–3 Feb 2021, Vescovo (right)
and Hawaiian marine scientist
Dr Clifford Kapono scaled Earth’s
tallest mountain – Mauna Kea in
Hawaii, USA. They ascended 9,323 m
(30,587 ft) from seabed to peak
via Limiting Factor, canoe, bicycle
and finally on foot – a far greater
distance than scaling Everest, the
highest mountain, at 8,848.8 m
(29,031 ft) above sea level.
Southern Ocean: South Sandwich Trench – 7,434 m (24,390 ft)
Limiting Factor, 2019–
Victor Vescovo first visited
the Challenger Deep in 2019.
A year later, he conducted the
deepest dive by a crewed
vessel – 10,935 m (35,875 ft).
By Oct 2022, he’d plumbed this
abyss a record-setting 15 times.
Between 19 Dec 2018 and 24 Aug
2019, Vescovo – piloting Limiting
Factor – became the first person to
reach the lowest points of Earth’s
oceans. Their current maximum
known depths are listed below.
Indian Ocean: Java Trench – 7,192 m (23,596 ft)
Titanium chassis
Multi-directional thrusters
(10 in total) allow for
precise manoeuvring
CREWED DIVES TO
THE CHALLENGER DEEP
FIVE DEEPEST POINTS
First full ascent
of Mauna Kea
Lowering
crane
Trieste, 1960
Jacques Piccard (CHE) and
Donald Walsh (USA) carried out
the first crewed descent to
the ocean’s deepest point in a
bathyscaphe on 23 Jan. They
reached 10,911 m (35,797 ft).
Exit trunk
For
buoyancy,
the sub is built
with “syntactic
foam” – epoxy resin
permeated with
air-filled glass
beads.
Arctic Ocean: Molloy Deep – 5,550 m (18,208 ft)
Manufactured by Triton Submarines and formally designated the Triton 36000/2, this
is the first submersible designed to make repeated journeys to the greatest depths
within the ocean. Its 90-mm-thick (3.5-in) titanium crew capsule can withstand the
8.5 tonnes (18,739 lb) of pressure per square inch at the deepest point in the sea –
the Challenger Deep. In fact, it was engineered to cope with 25% greater pressure than
it would ever experience.
Limiting Factor is supported by the scientific research ship Pressure Drop (below), and
on many descents was accompanied by robotic landers (opposite). The sub has two banks
of external batteries and another for internal power, enabling dives in excess of 16 hours.
Three viewports sit at its base – one facing down, the others horizontally – while 10 LED
lights (each a super-bright 20,000 lumens) provide essential illumination in the pitch-black
benthic darkness.
As of Oct 2022, Limiting Factor had performed 126 descents, 18 of which were sub-10,900 m
(35,760 ft). It has shone a light on the oceans’ least-known sites – many for the first time – and
also helped to discover the deepest shipwreck (see p.146), not once but twice. In late 2022,
the entire operation was taken on by the marine-research organization Inkfish and Limiting
Factor will embark on a new chapter of ultra-deep-sea science under the name Bakunawa
(based on a mythological serpent-like dragon), under the stewardship of marine biologist
Dr Alan Jamieson (see p.42). Truly, this sub’s potential for exploration knows no limits.
ADVENTURES EXPLAINER
3x wide-view
acrylic viewport
Manipulator arm
Steel weights to aid descent;
jettisoned when surfacing
Company in the depths
The three landers Flere, Skaff and Closp
play a vital role in the sub’s underwater
activities. They have modems that help
Limiting Factor triangulate its position on
the bottom by communicating with Pressure
Drop on the surface. Each also has a camera
system and storage tubes for samples.
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