Modern-day adventurers must feel a little cheated. After all, most of the good stuff has been done: the most formidable peaks have been climbed, the depths of the jungles have been penetrated, and the vast expanses of the oceans have been crossed. The lack of accessible frontiers forces people to get creative – it’s really only a matter of time before we see the first person to ever unicycle around the 39th parallel while juggling 4 cats and humming “It’s a Small World.” Although (some of) these sorts of feats are remarkable in allowing us to continually redefine the limits of what is physically possible, I’m not sure it’s really “exploration” — nothing fundamentally new is being discovered and incorporated into the realm of human knowledge and experience.

This is all a preamble to the assertion that the forefront of today’s exploration lies both above and below: space and the deep oceans. (I’d also include the deep subsurface of the earth, for those of you keeping score, though with no real possibility of human visitation, it’s not quite as engaging.) I think most people tend to discount the oceans, assuming we’ve over-fished there, bleached that, but in reality, we know less about the ocean floor than we do about the surface of Mars.

Fortunately, a very exciting new phase of ocean exploration is on the horizon. As nicely profiled in the New York Times, there’s a new deep-sea submersible on the assembly lines. The deep-sea dives initiated by Alvin opened a new frontier, returning remarkable photos of ghostly ship wrecks and alien ecosystems. The discovery of hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges revolutionized biology, providing the first evidence of a non sun-dependent ecosystem and laying the intellectual groundwork for theories about life on (or, more accurately, within) other planets.

Alvin’s greatest hits

Constructing submersibles is an enormous technical challenge given the bone-crushing pressures encountered a extreme depths. Building an Alvin replacement is akin to constructing a new rocket, and like NASA’s Constellation program, the new Alvin is behind schedule and over-budget. Nonetheless, the possibilities are tantalizing: the new craft will be able to go more than 4 miles down, making 99% of the ocean’s floor accessible. Alvin can descend to 2.8 miles, covering 62% of the ocean floor.

Sampling a deep-sea vent.

The new submersible will be operated by the folks at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute – quite likely the best in the business at deep sea exploration. I had the privilege of working at Woods Hole for a summer, and the place preserves the sort of frontier dynamism that is found in places on the edge – there’s a sense that the ocean is a place of possibility and discovery. (For the sake of full disclosure, I was not present for the miserable Cape Cod winter…) This excitement is infectious, and I’ll be on the edge of my seat when the new Alvin takes to the deep blue sea.