Ballard gives a rich talk of the potential of the ocean, extreme life, rich minerals and more

Oceanographer and explorer Dr. Bob Ballard discusses science, technology, engineering and mathematics to an overflow crowd Feb. 4 at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology EXPO. Among his many accomplishments, Ballard is known for leading the research to find the Titanic.

* he discusses the terrain on the ocean floor and how the next submarine should be like a tank and use terrain, instead of being like a blimp above it
* he talks about finding Titanic
* he talks about using unmanned exploration systems from a surface ship to get more bottom time exploration
* There are 100,000 Seamounts (active volcano, mountains that have rich life above and them and are creating rich mineral deposits)
* NASA has 1000 time the budget for exploring space as the budget for ocean exploration
* Ballard talks about his collaboration with the Office of Naval Research

Ballard’s Secret Mission

Ballard was directed by the Navy to check out the wrecks of the nuclear submarines Scorpion and the Thresher. They happened to be on either side of where the Titanic wreck was.

Ballard was given 12 days to look for the Titanic. He looked for the mile long debris field and skipped along 0.9 miles at a time.

Ballard TED Talk

SOURCES – youtube