Deep waters

The good ship Zhang Jian over the New Britain trench

TO MAN or not to man, that is the question. In the great days of exploration—of deserts and jungles, of the Arctic and Antarctic, even of the Moon, there was no alternative. Now, though, machines can do most of what human beings can accomplish, and frequently more. Yet humanity continues to put men and women in harm’s way when robots would do the job perfectly well.

The latest example comes from China, where a scientific adventurer called Cui Weicheng hopes to reap glory for himself and his country by organising routine manned expeditions to the hadal zone—the deepest part of the ocean, defined as anything below 6,000 metres. Dr Cui is the founder and director of the Hadal Science and Technology Research Centre (HAST) at Shanghai Ocean University. He became a national hero four years ago when Jiaolong, a manned submersible whose construction he organised, successfully plunged 7,062 metres down into the Mariana trench in the western Pacific Ocean. That enrolled China into the small club of countries (other members: America, France, Japan and…Continue reading
Source: Economist