Forget Mars. Deep-Sea Exploration Is the Real Next Frontier.

When they go high, we go 13,000 feet beneath the surface

Forget Mars. Deep-Sea Exploration Is the Real Next Frontier.

Forget Mars. Deep-Sea Exploration Is the Real Next Frontier.

By Kirk Miller

Forget space—the real final frontier is below the Earth’s surface.

Wanna chart new waters? OceanGate is your answer. Sort of a Space X for the deep seas, the underwater tourism company promises a plunge to unexplored depths.

Currently, OG offers trips in two small submersibles, Antipodes and Cyclops 1. They’re used to film sharks, explore Alcatraz and make sonar scans of ocean liners — but not the one you’re thinking of (cue “My Heart Will Go On”).

See, the current subs can’t dive below 6,500 feet. But according to Popular Science, the company’s upcoming 22-foot-long carbon fiber Cyclops 2 will be able to sink to 13,000 feet — which means it’ll be able to explore the Titanic (which is situated 12,500 feet below the surface).

That won’t be cheap: a spot on the Cyclops 2 will cost $105,129 — “That is the inflation-adjusted price of the Vanderbilt suite — the first-class suite — on the Titanic in 1912,” says OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush.

That’s a lot, but about 1/900 of a flight around the moon. So put that sinking feeling away.

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