Re: Making viewports (was: Visibility / Safety or Safety / Visibility ?)

[hylands@ibm.net (Jon Hylands)]

On Wed, 24 Feb 1999 08:51:19 -0700 (MST), you wrote:

> 	Of course there is limited support (i.e. the NSF grant fiasco) for
> any manned effort off the continental shelf, but I am wondering what is in
> store for the next generation of manned deep submergence work. It
> would be interesting to see where the state of the art is, even if it
> isn't being implimented.

I think Graham Hawkes' Deep Flight II is the future for manned deep
submergence work. Unfortunately, his web site (www.deepflight.com)
seems to be under renovation, but his sub is a very cool idea. Maybe
he's got some new information he's putting up.

Ballasted systems are too clunky for diving at 36,000 feet. The drop
takes too long, as does the ascent, leaving very little actual bottom
time. A flyer sub like DF2 could get to the bottom of Challenger Deep
in less than two hours.

Later,
Jon