This Titanium Submersible Will Show You The Ocean Floor In 3D

The Triton submersible in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Five Deeps Expedition.

After three years of preparation from oceanographers, submarine engineers, and scientists, investor and explorer Victor Vescovo, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Insight Equity, has put together a team that will send a manned submersible, Triton, down to the ocean floor in five of the deepest trenches of the earth's five oceans.

The Five Deeps Expedition will be documented by the Discovery and Science Channel on the series, Deep Planet which is slated to air in 2019.

The 55 person expedition will use Triton, a two-person deep-sea research submersible that's been explicitly designed for the Five Deeps expedition, will dive to these five trenches: Puerto Rico Trench (Atlantic Ocean, 8,648 meters), South Sandwich Trench (Southern Ocean, 8,428 meters), Java Trench (Indian Ocean, 7,725 meters), Mariana Trench/Challenger Deep (Pacific Ocean, 10,898 meters) and Malloy Deep (Arctic Ocean, 5,669 meters).

The expedition team will travel 49,000 nautical miles in 11 months and descend through 236,220 feet of water.

The scientific mission is led by Dr. Alan Jamieson, Newcastle University, who has been on 50 deep sea exploration missions.

"Currently, we know more about the intricacies of the lunar surface than we do about the depths of our own oceans on earth," said Jamieson in a press statement. "The discoveries made on this expedition promise a world of new scientific innovation in almost every area of biological, geological and oceanographic study."

The Five Deeps Expedition is being filmed by documentary filmmaker Anthony Geffen, CEO and Creative Director of the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Atlantic Productions. Geffen is also the producer of The Deep Planet series on Discovery Channel.

Technology such as multi-beam bathymetry scanners will allow the team to build up a picture of the trenches and view the oceans extraordinary features. The expedition team will also be using submersible interactive and autonomous gear on three landers.

"The technology on this project will take ocean filming to a new level. Multi-beam bathymetry scanners will allow us to see the seafloor in 3D and new 4K ocean depth camera systems will allow us to view the ocean in new dimensions," said Geffen. "Three landers will accompany the submersible on the dives to will enable us to discover what life is like at the bottom of all five oceans, it will bring back samples for the onboard scientists to examine."

Tritan being lowered in the sea. This submersible is a part of the Five Expeditions that will... [+] explore the deepest parts of the world's oceans.

The submersible interactive gear includes a video camera and light that helps confirm the team has reached the deepest levels as well as a ‘bio box’ where geological and biological samples can be collected and stored. Two of the landers have a rack of six push cores that the sub can take back to the research ship. The push core samples are for sedimentology, geology and infaunal biological samples.

The autonomous science gear includes a conductivity, temperature and depth sensor (CTD) to record the hydrographic conditions in the overlying water column and when the equipment is on the seafloor or in near-bottom water.

Sonar will play a vision role in the expedition. The team will use a multi-beam echo sounder mounted on the hull of the DSSV Pressure Drop, the dedicated research vessel on the journey, which will enable the team to both map the geomorphologies at extreme depths. But it will also assist in the planning and execution of each submersible dive. The team hopes the sonar will clarify inaccuracies in documented depths and may ultimately lead to the reclassification of some of them.

"The camera systems on the submersible will allow us to see the bottom of the ocean in an entirely new way. There are creatures at the bottom of the ocean that was first there when it was formed," adds Geffen.

Geffen says this is the first ocean depth manned submersible of its kind that can do repeated dives and can stay underwater for many hours at a time. The center of the submarine is cast by pure Titanium with a unique battery system to allow for the long dives.

The titanium submersible that will dive to the deepest trenches in five of the world's oceans in... [+] Deep Planet by the Discovery and Science Channel

The expedition will also use virtual reality (VR) during their time at sea.

"I was lucky enough on my first ocean VR piece, Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough, to win the first BAFTA award for VR," said Geffen. "The underwater world is perfect for VR as it allows you to immerse and interact with specific areas. Even with 30 years of filmmaking, this project will need to overcome new challenges, and I hope we will create a new record for filming VR at nearly 11,000 meters below sea level."

Geffen says there are so many important reasons to understand our oceans which he hopes this five-part documentary series will reveal.

"Extraordinarily, we know so little about the deep oceans, and yet it offers us clues to our past, future and an understanding of what life we might find in Space. The ocean can be used for medical innovations such as cures for Alzheimer's," said Geffen. "And most importantly through deep ocean geology, it allows us to understand the threats that come from the deep oceans, such as Tsunamis and earthquakes."