Photos from DEPTHX-Zacatón Project

Notes: The images below were originally posted in March. Watch this page for up-to-date photos from the site.

To obtain print-ready versions of the image(s) on this page, click on the image to be linked to the high-resolution jpeg file or follow instructions linked below the image(s). If you have questions contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.

Doctoral student Marcus Gary SCUBA dives with the DEPTHX probe during initial in-water tests at The University of Texas at Austin Applied Research Laboratories wet test facility.

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DEPTHX illuminates the underwater walls of La Pilita, the second deepest sinkhole in the Zacatón system, during tests of the probe in its first mission, February 2007.

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The DEPTHX team for mission 1 in February 2007 poses for a group photograph with the probe in front of the cenote La Pilita.

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Jupiter's moon Europa.

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George Kantor's t-shirt.

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Jason Sahl (Colorado School of Mines) prepares a liquid sample brought back by DEPTHX. Back home, he and John Spear (CSM) will analyze it for DNA and identify known and unknown microbes.

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Marc Airhart (UT Austin) with DEPTHX robot.

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Marcus Gary (UT Austin) is relieved to have found DEPTHX after it went missing underwater for a few hours.

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Antonio Fegroso, a Tampico-based eco-tour guide and botanist (left) and Marcus Gary, a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin with the DEPTHX robot.

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Marcus Gary (UT Austin) points out to Marc Airhart (UT Austin) a small white cross above the cliffs of Zacaton erected by locals in honor of Sheck Exley, a diver who lost his life attempting the world's deepest scuba dive here in 1994.

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The DEPTHX team watches the horror movie "The Cave" inside a real cave. A gas generator above provided power for the laptop computer and projector. A bed sheet draped on the wall served as a screen. It was dubbed the Goat Head Theater in honor of a small goat skull found in the back of the cave.

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For more information about the Jackson School, contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.