Field Updates from the DepthX Mission to Probe Earth's Deepest Water-filled Sinkhole

May 2007

A team of scientists—including Marcus Gary from the Jackson School—used an autonomous robot to explore the world’s deepest water-filled sinkhole, Cenote Zacatón. The technology may someday be used to search for life in space.

Jackson School of Geosciences writer Marc Airhart posted live updates from the DepthX mission in northeastern Mexico during March and May 2007. The following pages contain Marc's entries and additional information on the Zacatón mission:

• Marc Airhart's field updates from the March & May 2007 expeditions
   
• Jackson School press release, May 14: "NASA-funded Robotic Sub Makes Final Dive To Reach Bottom of Earth’s Deepest Sinkhole"
   
• Photos from the May 2007 expedition (updated periodically) and past expeditions
   
• DepthX was featured on This Week @ NASA TV
  NASA-TV Video: Windows Media - Quicktime
   
• DepthX drew widespread international media coverage:
  Read the IEEE Spectrum article.
  Read the Washington Post article.
  Read the Earth & Sky Radio transcript.
  Read the Associated Press piece.
  Read the Discovery News article.
  Read the Astrobiology.com article.
  Read the PressTV (Iran) transcript.
  Read the New Scientist article.
  Read the Hindustan Times (India) article. (LexisNexis subscription required).
   
• Marcus Gary's DepthX page
   
• Carnegie Mellon University's DepthX page
   
• Stone Aerospace's DepthX page
   

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