Multimillionaire explorer who solo piloted a submarine to the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean prepares for his next extreme dive

The 11.2-ton Triton submarine, named Limiting Factor, has a 9cm-thick titanium hull so it can withstand pressure more than more than 16,000 psi (pounds per square inch).
Five Deeps Expedition
Bonnie Christian14 January 2019

A multimillionaire explorer who was the first to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean is preparing for his next dive in unmapped depths, thousands of metres below the surface.

Victor Vescovo, 53, became the first person to reach the depths of the Puerto Rico Trench last month on a solo mission piloting a $US 32.5 million (£25.4 million) submarine almost five miles (8376 metres) below the surface.

The trench was previously explored to approximately 8,300 metres by the French submersible Archimede in 1964.

“It was an extremely exciting, and rewarding, if quite quiet, event,” Mr Vescovo said.

Explorer Victor Vescovo is on an extreme mission to conquer the deepest points of the world's oceans.
Five Deeps Expedition

“It was such a great feeling to pilot this craft, that only existed on paper three years ago, to the bottom of such a historic ocean for the first time.

“With just me in the sub, it was almost peaceful to slowly drift down to the bottom almost soundlessly.

“I must admit it was quite a relief as well, to prove the submersible could get to that location -- the second deepest of the Five Deeps - without major issues.”

Mr Vescovo has already climbed to the highest peak of each of the world’s seven continents and trekked to both the north and south poles.

The Discovery Channel is following Victor Vescovo around the world as he conquers some of the deepest points of the ocean.
Five Deeps Expedition

His next extreme feat is to conquer the deepest points of the ocean.

The American private equity investor and co-founder of Insight Equity, is leading the charge of an expedition known as the Five Deeps, in a bid to prove himself as the ultimate explorer. A Discovery Channel documentary about the dives is due to air later this year or early 2020.

The next stop for Mr Vescovo and his team will be the Sandwich Trench - the deepest point in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, about 100 kilometres east of the South Sandwich Islands - an area that has barely been explored.

Getting 8,428 metres below the surface is not easy or cheap and it is hoped the dive will grant Mr Vescovo naming rights. His specially built submarine will need to withstand more than 16,000 psi (pounds per square inch) – more than 1,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level.

Explorer Victor Viscovo has already conquered the world's highest peaks and the two poles, now he wants to go to the other extreme - the deepest points of the oceans.
Five Deeps Expedition

The 11.2-ton Triton submarine, named Limiting Factor, has a 9cm-thick titanium hull built using advanced forging techniques and tested in Russia to conditions equivalent to 13,198 metres, or 20 percent greater than the ocean’s deepest point.

It can descend to 10,950 metres in less than two-and-a-half hours, time he can spend exploring the ocean deep using four cameras

“I am extremely confident that by the end of the expedition we will have the most capable submarine research system in the world, tested in the most extreme way possible, and ready to undertake extraordinary science all over the world for decades to come,” Mr Vescovo said.

It is the job of geologist Heather Stewart at the British Geological Survey to find where the deepest point of South Sandwich Trench is.

Heather Stewart, a geologist with the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, was one of the scientists tasked with finding the deepest points for Mr Vescovo's dives.
Five Deeps Expedition

Ms Stewart also mapped the Puerto Rico trench for the expedition to ensure Mr Vescovo reached the deepest point.

“(The Puerto Rico trench) is not the deepest place that I've mapped but its really, really interesting to then send a multi-million pound submarine down, that's something that I've definitely not done before,” Ms Stewart said.

“It was quite a challenge to find where are we going to put Victor so that we know that he's definitely in the deepest point in the Atlantic.”

Ms Stewart said there was a “false impression” that a lot is known about the seafloor. When in reality more people have been into space than to what is known as the Hadal zone - the depth of around 6,000 to 11,000 metres

She said the South Sandwich Trench is one of the very poorly mapped areas.

“There’s literally nothing, all the data that’s available is derived from satellites and its really poor,” she said.

To find the deepest point for Mr Vescovo to travel to - a task that can take days - Ms Stewart will be using new, state of the art mapping kit known as an echo sounder, which is mounted to the hull of the team’s boat.

Next the team will be heading to the Java Trench in the Indian ocean to depths of 7,290 metres, to the Mariana Trench/Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean to a depth of 10,925 metres and the Molloy Deep in the Arctic Ocean to 5,573 metres.

The trip will also potentially reveal what life calls the deepest part of the oceans home - it is believed at least four new species have already been discovered.

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