Guillermo Sonline founded OceanGate in 2009 — together with Stockton Rush, who died last year with four other passengers during an underwater expedition to the wreck of the Titanic.
Before the tragedy, Sonline split from OceanGate and founded his own company, Blue Marble Exploration, which this year plans to explore the Dean’s Blue Hole» in the Bahamas — one of the deepest ocean caves on the planet.
Sonline will be joined by scientist Kenny Broad and former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski, who expect to make «unprecedented discoveries».
«To date, the Dean Blue Hole has been» virtually unexplored», — the company says on its website. «Going into uncharted waters, our team will have to «expect the unexpected».
According to Blue Marble, «Dean’s Blue Hole» — is a 200-meter deep dark blue underwater cave (the third deepest in the world, which is why it has not been studied much) formed 15,000 years ago.
The cave is shaped like a «vase» — with a narrow opening near the surface that leads to a much wider chamber below. Some scientists believe that the chamber that connects the blue hole to the Atlantic Ocean may have holes in it, potentially «causing unforeseen currents and heat layers» that would interfere with underwater operations.
«There is a certain amount of unpredictability that our team will face in the new territory».
One of the biggest challenges will be the pressure at the bottom (nearly 300 psi) — about 20 times greater than at the surface.
Interestingly, the locals have nicknamed the cave a portal to hell because people die there every year.
«We fully expect to find human remains and are preparing to deal with these situations with due respect for the families,» the company said.
Of course, this expedition will not compare with the depth to which the members of the «Titanic» — expedition planned to reach the wreckage of the Titanic at a depth of more than 12,500 meters. Last year in June, the OceanGate submersible exploded, taking the lives of five team membersincluding the company’s founder.
Contact with the passengers, who had paid $250 thousand each for the expedition, disappeared about 2 hours after the start of the trip, and the subsequent search operation lasted 5 days. Eventually, the US Coast Guard announced that it had come across the wreckage of «Titan» — all passengers crushed to death under enormous pressure in less than a second.
Source: NY Post
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