NASA Robot to Plunge into 'Bottomless' Sinkhole

It will undoubtedly end up in China. SAVE OUR TAX DOLLARS!

My guess is Pat Boon and James Mason coming the other way.

drak,

riding up on the plume from a prehistoric spiracle?

The link has corrected the location to Mexico, not Yellowstone.

I think it is an excellent use of NASA's technology to explore these facets of our own planet, while in the process gain insight into environments we may encounter on other bodies in our solar system (Venus for one).

The more we learn about our solar system, but especially our own earth the better for mankind's future.

Greg

I'll bet there's water leaking into it from somewhere. How's that for rocket science?

:-)

National Aeronautics and Spelunking Administration? No wonder man hasn't been to Mars yet, they're blowing their money on stupid shit like this.

save research dollars, give wilyecoyote a transmitter throw him/her into the sinkhole and when he/she finds the bottom have him/her call for retrieval... If we can.

I think funding research is one most important functions of government. Pure research has proven long term returns.

I agree. I just can't resist having some fun with the concept of exploring a hole in the ground. The "trivial solution" to this "problem" is that it is a hole in the ground. The more important solution is how big is it, how did it form, and what does it affect. A hole that big can have a serious affect on the ground water in the immediate vicinity and can reflect changes in the ground water in a larger area. The question will always be "is the sink hole water the source of the change or the result of the change?" For that reason, we need to know how this particular sink hole works.

I agree. Sink holes plague many areas of the world. Just recently a huge hole reported to be over 110 meters deep opened (in Guatemala I think) costing lives and property damage. Perhaps this Mexican "bottomless hole" is the remnants of such an event. Residents of southern Florida are very aware of having sinkholes occur almost as regularly as hurricanes.

can't resist having some fun with the concept of exploring a hole in the ground.

many people have fun exploring holes biologically . . .

why should not the Governement and the Nasa enjoy exploring a hole scientifically ?

What of the geo-thermal possibilities?

Why not tie a rock on a string and throw it in and see how far it goes. Maybe a camera on a cable. I volunteer to do it, at say 50% of NASA's cost.

Very cool project! An excellent test for the NASA exploratory gear and a tremendous opportunity to learn more about our own planet. This kind of thing grabs the attention of bright kids and makes them think that "techie" careers might be worthwhile.

Why did the divers choose 925 feet to stop at? How funny would it be the hole bottomed out at 927 feet.

NASA have a planned mission to Europa that is intended to explore the ocean that is believed to be under the ice. Exploring a sink hole like this is an excellent test of the technology and when sending a completely autonomous vehicle to explore a moon around another planet you take any chance to test the technology you can get.

Now I know people are going to turn around and so why bother exploring a moon around Jupiter before we go back to the one orbiting Earth. The answer to this is that the mission to Europa may be the most important mission of all as next to Earth than Europa holds more chance of harboring life any where else in our solar system. The discovery of some form of life there would be a monumental scientific achievement and to me looking for life outside Earth is something definitely worth doing.

Why did the divers choose 925 feet to stop at? How funny would it be the hole bottomed out at 927 feet.

The answer to this is that this is the limit that divers can descend using the current technology. Keep in mind 925 feed is a long way down and deeper than many submarines can dive, the pressure at that depth is phenomenal and diving to depths like this is extremely dangerous at any time let alone in a sink hole.

ABOLISH INCOME TAXES!

Ahh.......a worthy notion.....but AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

If "guest" and NASA want to drop me in a sink hole on Europa, I'll go but not into one on Earth that maybe NOAA should be picking up the tab for, not NASA. We made it to the moon in 9 years during the Apollo program in the 60's, is it any wonder it will be 2020 before we're able to do something that we've done before when NASA wastes their budgets and talents on these kind of projects? Over the years NASA has been taken over by tree-huggers and feminists and have increasingly focused their attention on Earth instead of extra-terrestrial pursuits. I suggest that if "Guest" thinks this is so damn important that he volunteer for this particular mission. BTW, I am male. "Guest," get registered and come out of the closet.

Blaine Jeffreys

Raleigh, NC

Don't you think it would be advisable for NASA to take every opportunity to test the technology on earth where they can fix it before sending it a couple of hundred million kilometers into space. Failure of the technology after spending a billion dollars and a few years of traveling time getting it there would be unforgivable.

Since the system needs testing why not test it in a practical way and use the test to study something on earth. The added cost to NASA is minimal and the test generates worthwhile data for both NASA and the people researching the sink hole.

To me this seems to be a more efficient use of money and effort to test an autonomous submersible in a sink hole rather than a tank where all you can study is the submersible.

Can I speculate that what they will find... is a light?? The theoretical light at the end of the tunnel? Of course this must be approached cautiously as it might be a freight train coming out of the hole.

Be careful, the light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train.....on fire....