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A whale necropolis has been found

nature.com

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Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#31

Post by taffydavid »

fsckboy wrote: post #17
jtfrench wrote: post #2

I feel like maybe we've needed an "OceanX" before a "SpaceX".

> I feel like maybe we've needed an "OceanX" before a "SpaceX" SpaceX is based on the idea that our planet will someday be uninhabitable, so we need to be ready to colonize other planets. The sooner we start, the sooner we get there. OceanX might be fun science, but it's not going to save us.

No, spaceX is based on the idea that Elon Musk likes rockets but loves money. The IPO proves that - the company pivoted to renting server capacity through xAI and pushing a ridiculous plan to put server farms in space via their constantly exploding starship as a means to inflate stock and make him a trillionaire.

Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#35

Post by OgsyedIE »

ckastner wrote: post #30

> Isotopic dating shows that whale falls in this region have occurred since at least 5.3 million years ago Anyone know why these wouldn't be covered under a thick layer of sediment?

From the abstract it's possible that whale falls happen roughly evenly across the ocean and that the location is actually the one place without sediment burial occuring.

Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#36

Post by dopidopHN2 »

nine_k wrote: post #9
jtfrench wrote: post #2

I feel like maybe we've needed an "OceanX" before a "SpaceX".

SpaceX serves a large market that was underserved, via Starlink, and via satellite launches. There's nothing comparably easy (for some values of "easy") to monetize underwater, except in shallow places like the continental shelves, and these areas are already being heavily developed (oil, wind). There are many, many wonders deep underwater, but they are mostly not commercially interesting, alas.

What about deep sea mining ? What about those poly metallic nodules there ?

We definitively have stuff to fuck up over there. Those ecosystem that do not know noise or light need disruption and market capitalization

https://noduleresearch.com/

Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#37

Post by x______________ »

dopidopHN2 wrote: post #36
nine_k wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpaceX serves a large market that was underserved, via Starlink, and via satellite launches. There's nothing comparably easy (for some values of "easy") to monetize underwater, except in shallow places like the continental shelves, and these areas are already being heavily developed (oil, wind). There are many, many wonders deep underwater, but they are mostly not commercially interesting, alas.

What about deep sea mining ? What about those poly metallic nodules there ? We definitively have stuff to fuck up over there. Those ecosystem that do not know noise or light need disruption and market capitalization https://noduleresearch.com/

Only when we have reached the far reaches of this planet, life as it used to be will cease to exist. Some may argue that it's the natural course of the universe but others would argue that a paradise should be left untouched when found, as it may be the only one.

Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#38

Post by rcxdude »

dbish wrote: post #5
jtfrench wrote: post #2

I feel like maybe we've needed an "OceanX" before a "SpaceX".

I’ve always wanted to start a company that builds automated underwater swarms of “probes” that just search and return info and carry out small exploration tasks but over long amounts of time and space. Do it right and you can send the first underwater explorers to Europa. Hard to find the right way to monetize in the early stages though. SpaceX had a variety of options.

AUVs are a thing, but it's a very expensive area to be in, and there's a lot of challenges, especially the extremely high degree of autonomy you need in a much less predictable environment. Maybe recent advances in AI could move the needle there.

Re: A whale necropolis has been found

#39

Post by irishcoffee »

toast0 wrote: post #19
irishcoffee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually work in this space. The difficulties of long-running underwater probes should not be discounted. Comms bandwidth without a tether is… quite slow. Dealing with even the tiniest drops of water inside the system is… a real problem. Salt water is also quite a problem. Deploy and retrieve is a real problem. I won’t say I think outer space is easier, but the problem space is very different.

> I won’t say I think outer space is easier, but the problem space is very different. You didn't even mention pressure. Space is only 1 atm off of sea level. 100 meters below the surface is 10 atm more than at sea level ... all sorts of cool stuff you might want to explore is way deeper than that. Less of a problem for robots than people, but still a problem.

There are a lot of tricks to deal with pressure, related to filling electronic “bottles” with 1 atm of pressure via nonconductive fluid. You are correct though, pressure is also a phenomenon that has to be accounted for or you’re gonna have a bad time.
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