Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00GeoSars is a ship on a mission to find new life forms on Earth's final frontier.
00:09If life can live subsurface, then that is the type of life we expect there could be on Mars.
00:16She's a state-of-the-art research vessel, and her next job will push her to her limits in the cold depths of the ocean.
00:23It will be very difficult down there.
00:26The challenges are huge, and the schedule is tight.
00:34It's a voyage of discovery that only one ship can pull off.
00:49GeoSars was designed for one job only – marine exploration.
00:55She's in Tromsø, Norway, for an expedition that's almost science fiction.
00:59A hunt for bizarre new life forms living near poison-spewing volcanoes on the bottom of the sea.
01:14The expedition leader is Professor Rolf Pedersen.
01:17Rolf believes that if life can exist in impossible conditions on our world, why not on other planets?
01:25This is one extreme environment. Clearly, if there is life on Mars, there is another extreme environment.
01:32Rolf is depending on this state-of-the-art ocean-going lab to help solve the mystery.
01:40GeoSars is 77 metres long and 16 metres wide.
01:45She's equipped with seven fully functional scientific labs,
01:49and packed with the latest navigational and acoustic equipment, including an ROV that can dive to 5,000 metres.
01:59Her captain is Preben Vindinnes.
02:10It's his job to keep GeoSars and her high-tech equipment all running smoothly.
02:16There's a lot of things that can go wrong on a ship.
02:19Machinery problems, problems with the ROV, problems with the electronics.
02:25But we've always been able to solve our problems at sea when we have them.
02:46Boarding the ship in Tromso is a multinational team of scientists and students from Europe, Asia and North America.
02:54They all have different specialities, but the same goal – the discovery of new life-forms on the bottom of the sea.
03:01Tamara Bomberger is a student from Switzerland.
03:05I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure we are going to see very, very great things down there.
03:12The deep ocean is one of the toughest places on Earth to collect scientific samples.
03:17It's a challenge that scientists like Marvin Lilley and Gretchen Frug-Grimm are willing to take on.
03:23Without being able to get your samples and without being able to get that one little piece more of the puzzle,
03:30you can't really keep going in your research.
03:41There's not much time to get ready.
03:44In the biology lab, researcher Hans-Torre Rapp has one eye on his equipment and the other on the clock.
03:52I'm trying to get everything on board.
03:55We have to settle the labs and everything before we go out on the sea tonight.
04:00The tight timeline is a worry for microbiologist Ida Steen.
04:05I'm nervous about how well we will be organized.
04:10At $30,000 a day, GeoSARS isn't cheap.
04:15The pressure is on Rolf to make sure that the mission is a success.
04:20Especially when it's 10 days, 11 days cruises, it's very sort of tight on time.
04:29From Tromso, GeoSARS will travel northwest to explore a subsea mud volcano spewing massive amounts of toxic methane gas.
04:38Then she'll head west to a hydrothermal vent field to search for new lifeforms that can exist in extreme conditions.
04:47Some of the scientists have made this journey before.
04:55One year ago, Rolf, Gretchen and Marvin were on board GeoSARS for another expedition in the Norwegian Sea.
05:03This is the first time I've ever been on a ship.
05:07One year ago, Rolf, Gretchen and Marvin were on board GeoSARS for another expedition in the Norwegian Sea.
05:22On the very last day, they found their prize.
05:26A spectacular hydrothermal vent field that no one knew existed.
05:32Hydrothermal vents are natural exhaust ports where seawater that's been superheated by the Earth's core spews back up through the ocean floor.
05:42It creates an underwater oasis teeming with life.
05:46They called their discovery Loki's Castle.
05:50Now they're heading back to explore it further.
05:55It's exciting to be part of any kind of discovery, but it's also exciting to be part of the science team.
06:04The key to this mission is the ship's specialized ROV.
06:09The bathysaurus is equipped with mechanized arms for gathering samples
06:13and high-definition cameras to give scientists an extraordinary view of deep-sea life.
06:22It has 12 850-watt electrical thrusters, making it highly maneuverable even in the deepest, coldest waters.
06:31ROV pilots Osteen Aberdeensen and Jørn Bryn work in GeoSARS' custom-designed hangar.
06:37This feature is a big time-saver.
06:41If you're mobilizing the ROV system on a boat, it takes two to three days.
06:46The ROV system can be used for two to three days,
06:50and the ROV system can be used for two to three days.
06:55If you're mobilizing the ROV system on a boat, it takes two to three days.
07:00Here we're talking about an hour, so it's going very fast.
07:07Right on schedule, GeoSARS casts off and heads for the open sea.
07:13Her first stop is HÃ¥kon Mosby, a mysterious mud volcano that pumps toxic methane gas into the sea.
07:21Some scientists have claimed that these are the exact conditions that have swallowed ships in the Bermuda Triangle.
07:34GeoSARS is approaching an underwater volcano, and it's the middle of the night.
07:39In August, north of the Arctic Circle, it stays light around the clock.
07:45The HÃ¥kon Mosby mud volcano is still active, spewing poisonous methane gas into the sea.
07:52And that's precisely why scientists want to explore it.
07:56They want to know how life can survive here.
08:01But sailing directly on top of it could be a problem.
08:06Huge methane gas bubbles make water less dense.
08:10And it's water density that keeps ships afloat.
08:21A shipwreck was found near another deep-sea mud volcano.
08:36The conditions that exist at HÃ¥kon Mosby are the same that exist in the Bermuda Triangle.
08:43The price here outweighs the risks.
08:46The scientists want to know how life can survive in the most extreme environments on Earth.
08:52If life can live subsurface, then that is the type of life we expect there could be on Mars.
09:02The team is eager to get to the site and start diving operations as soon as possible.
09:19They've only got one day to gather samples.
09:22Ida needs samples to understand how microbes can live in methane.
09:27But everyone else has a wish list, too.
09:30And they may have less time than they'd hoped.
09:39Every sailor knows the sea runs its own schedule.
09:42All Captain Vindinus can do is adapt to current conditions.
09:56Hopefully we won't be very much delayed.
10:01GeoSars fights the headwinds and arrives on site almost on time.
10:06Rolf briefs the ROV pilots, who are getting ready for the first dive.
10:11We've been diving there before, so we know it shouldn't be any danger when it comes to topography.
10:16No hard rocks or anything like that we could get tangled into.
10:20The volcano lies 1,200 meters below her keel.
10:23The crater is one square kilometer in size, with a rim that juts up just 10 meters.
10:29We'll spend some time looking around, taking some good video,
10:32because now we have the high-definition video cameras,
10:35so we will try to get some good images of what is living down there,
10:39bacterial mats and so on.
10:41And then we will try to do some sampling at the end. That's the plan.
10:48But before the ROV can be deployed,
10:50the captain will have to put his ship dead center over the volcano.
10:57We still need to be moving 400-500 meters further ahead.
11:02And I've just docked up all the thrusters that I'll be needing for keeping the ship in position.
11:10The scientists want to locate vents inside the crater
11:13to take samples from the methane gas, as well as the ocean floor.
11:17And that's where GeoSAR's array of high-tech sensing equipment comes in.
11:25The multi-beam echo sounder sends sound waves to the bottom.
11:29When they hit bubbles, fish or anything else in the water,
11:32they are reflected back to the ship.
11:35These blue columns indicate streams of methane gas bubbles, rising up from the sea floor.
11:42To get a more accurate picture, ROV flights to the bottom of the crater
11:46To get a more accurate picture, ROV lowers the ship's unique drop keel,
11:50which contains highly sensitive sonar receivers.
11:54We took down the drop keel now because we started to get some disturbances,
11:59so it goes into the more quiet zone.
12:02By lowering the drop keel three meters, the receivers won't be affected by surface noise.
12:07And they can produce a clearer picture of the ocean floor.
12:11The diesel-electric engines powering GeoSAR's were also designed to minimize interference.
12:18They're mounted on rubber cushions to reduce noise
12:21that might be picked up by the ship's delicate instruments.
12:26As the ship sails over the volcano,
12:28Rolf and Marvin are glued to the images on the echo sounder's screen.
12:34So basically the area we have to search is within here somewhere.
12:39And that's not too bad.
12:42They're now sitting right on top of the volcano's gas plumes.
12:46Potentially dangerous, but the perfect position for the crew to deploy the ROV.
12:54Down on the hangar deck, ROV pilots Jorn and Osteen prepare for the expedition's first dive.
13:00They're old hands at this, but when the target is 1,200 meters down, it's never easy.
13:06You have so many things that could go wrong, but hopefully nothing.
13:11You have everything that can go wrong.
13:14Up on the bridge, the captain is ready to go.
13:17I'm going to call the crew. We'll be deploying the ROV.
13:28It's a delicate job hoisting the four-meter-long ROV.
13:33It's a delicate job hoisting the $4 million Bathysaurus over the side.
13:44They slowly spool out the Kevlar-coated umbilical cord that sends video back to the ship
13:49and allows the pilots to control the ROV.
13:55If it's cut, the ROV is lost.
13:58So it's a cautious two-hour trip to the bottom.
14:05We will dive down and see what we can find there.
14:08Look for animal life, look for bacteria life, and so that's going to be exciting, I think.
14:14The scientists will follow the dive from the cramped ROV control room.
14:19They can hardly wait to see the first images from the sea floor,
14:24but they're totally reliant on the guys in the driver's seat.
14:30The big players are the ROV pilots,
14:32because without them being able to do their job, we can't get our samples.
14:36That is basically the mud coming off.
14:43Finally, the ROV reaches bottom and reveals an astonishing undersea world.
14:53We are right in the centre of a mud volcano.
14:55Oh, wow.
14:57It's a huge volcano.
15:00A rare, alien-like creature is caught and frozen in the headlights.
15:07The volcano is spewing out mud and millions of cubic metres of methane gas.
15:12It's pure poison, yet somehow the sea floor is teeming with life.
15:17It looks like there's a lot of life in there.
15:19It looks like there's a lot of life in there.
15:22It looks like there's a lot of life in there.
15:25It looks like there's a lot of life in there.
15:28It looks like they're putting their nose into the mud.
15:31You see these kind of small holes?
15:41To understand how life survives here,
15:43they'll start by sampling these white patches of bacteria on the sea floor.
15:49They may be the oldest forms of life on Earth.
15:52This part requires teamwork and intense concentration.
15:56While Oshtin makes sure the umbilical cord doesn't get caught or tangled,
16:01Jorn works the ROV's mechanical hands,
16:04scooping up precious bacterial samples from the seabed.
16:09Now, for some bigger game.
16:11They want to go fishing with the ROV.
16:14I would try to sample some of the fishes, but that's very difficult,
16:17because when we start to suck them, they're swimming up.
16:20Biologist Hans Tore Rap helps guide the ROV to a lone fish
16:24that he'd love to get his hands on.
16:27It could be a new species.
16:30Fantastic. That is really good.
16:34Hans thinks they've bagged it,
16:36and heads for the lab to get his instruments ready.
16:40You know, when you're on the cruise,
16:42there are lots of people that need their samples.
16:45Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not.
16:47GeoSars holds her position over the mud volcano
16:50while the ROV explores the ocean floor.
16:54They've got time for just one dive at this site,
16:57and the pressure is on to make it pay off.
17:05Marine research ship GeoSars is in the Norwegian Sea,
17:09exploring an underwater mud volcano.
17:12It's 1,200 metres below the surface,
17:15in a forbidding world of intense cold and poisonous methane gas.
17:23There's only time for just one dive here,
17:26and PhD student Tamara Bomberger fears that,
17:29with only one shot at it, they won't get all the samples they need.
17:33It's a bit scary.
17:35It's a bit scary.
17:37It's a bit scary to be dependent on one cruise only
17:41to get all the samples for your thesis.
17:46And conditions down there are conspiring against the ROV pilots.
17:50The bottom is very, very soft here,
17:52so every time we touch it, the seabed will be stirred up,
17:56and the wind will not be good.
18:00The machine's thrusters constantly kick up mud from the bottom,
18:04blinding the cameras.
18:06When we lose sight, we can't see anything for a while,
18:10and then you get disoriented.
18:14The delays have been costly.
18:16There's only time now for one more sample.
18:19The ROV pilots collect the last load of sediment from the seafloor
18:23and prepare to bring it back to the surface.
18:27While Oshtin handles the controls,
18:29Jorn makes sure the umbilical cord is carefully spooled in.
18:36Up on the bridge, Captain Vindinus plays to his role,
18:39keeping the ship in a precise position above the ROV.
18:43As you see, the ship is in the centre here,
18:45and the little bit of sand here,
18:47that's where we're going to put the ROV.
18:49We're going to put the ROV here.
18:51We're going to put the ROV here.
18:53As you see, the ship is in the centre here,
18:55and the little black spot here is the ROV.
18:59A dynamic positioning system automatically senses the ROV's movements,
19:04controlling the ship's propeller and thrusters to keep her in place.
19:08One slip could sever the umbilical cord, and the ROV would be lost.
19:15We at all times are the same distance from the ROV,
19:19and that is also very good for the cable going down to the ROV.
19:25It's a long two-hour trip before the ROV is safely back on the hangar deck.
19:30Biologist Hans Thor is desperate to find out if he has his fish.
19:39I haven't seen the sample,
19:41but I think we got the most important animals from the site.
19:46So I will try to open this container here,
19:49take it more or less intact inside into the lab,
19:52and get it into a tray, maybe something.
19:56Can you see a fish? Is it still here?
19:59Yeah. I'm not sure.
20:06The tank is empty. The fish got away.
20:09No fish.
20:11He was hoping to get this fish that was very dominant down there.
20:15The consolation prize, a handful of tiny tube worms.
20:19As you can see, most of the cache is actually tiny amphipodes here,
20:25and pieces of the tube worms.
20:27Hans will now go to work,
20:29trying to figure out how they can live in such a toxic world.
20:35Ida has her prize too,
20:37a core sample from the seafloor with microbial specimens.
20:42But there's nothing for Tamara's chemistry lab.
20:45The pressurised water samples didn't make it.
20:48We didn't get any samples, and then we heard,
20:51oh, the connection was bad between the major sampling bottles and the ROE,
20:57so, yeah, no samples for us.
21:00No samples and no more time.
21:02The expedition has to move on.
21:06GeoSars set sail for a spectacular new discovery called Loki's Castle.
21:11200 nautical miles from here,
21:14it's a rare hydrothermic vent field
21:17that holds the promise of undiscovered lifeforms.
21:25One of the key experiments they're planning
21:28involves a device called a mock nest,
21:31a specialised plankton collection net
21:33It's like a huge lobster trap,
21:35but its fine mesh can scoop up plankton from different depths.
21:40The plan is to sample plankton
21:42that inexplicably survive in the toxic vent plumes,
21:45found 2,500 metres down at Loki's Castle.
21:49But no-one has ever tried it that deep,
21:52and Captain Vindinus isn't convinced it's safe for the ship's winch.
21:57Rolf wants him to try.
22:00What we need to find out is how much pressure this mock nest will stand,
22:06and we also need to work out how much wire,
22:11because the weight of the mock nest and the wire
22:14is a big strain on the winches.
22:17It's very important for one of the students to use this sampler
22:22because he basically depends on it when it comes to his thesis work.
22:27PhD student Berndt Ridlund Olsen
22:29needs the plankton samples that only the mock nest can collect,
22:33samples that may be similar to the first life-forms on Earth.
22:37If we don't make that work,
22:39a lot of my foundation for my thesis will go away,
22:43and we need to think otherwise.
22:45I've never been using it deeper than 900 metres,
22:49so this is going to be an important issue to resolve tomorrow morning.
22:54Rolf wants to put the big net down twice the usual depth,
22:58so he'll have to convince the captain
23:00that at 2,000 metres it won't snap the ship's winches.
23:08Early the next morning, GeoSars is approaching Loki's castle.
23:13Last year, they stumbled on the vent field after a long search.
23:17Now they're trying to retrace their steps.
23:21Oceanographer Marvin Lilley is looking for the telltale plumes
23:25of heated water floating up from the seafloor.
23:28Normally in the deep sea, temperature is a very smooth,
23:31slowly changing parameter,
23:33and in this case you see all those wild squiggles.
23:37These temperature squiggles can only mean one thing.
23:41They're sitting right on top of Loki's castle.
23:44Marvin's foundation.
23:46The pilots waste no time getting the ROV over the side.
23:55But the moment it hits the water, they lose contact.
24:00So it's brought back on deck.
24:03The pilots need to figure out what's wrong.
24:06We have to bring the ROV back now before it's too late.
24:11It looks like it won't be a simple fix.
24:17It's not working.
24:19Captain Vindinus needs to sort things out, and fast.
24:23The ROV needs to know what depth and what position it's in.
24:28It's not working.
24:30Captain Vindinus needs to sort things out, and fast.
24:34The ROV needs to know what depth and what position it's in.
24:40It's in when it's down, especially at this depth.
24:45Transponders on the ROV send position information,
24:49direction of travel and depth back to GeoSars.
24:53The signal is reaching the ship, but it's not being processed.
24:58The problem is with the on-board computer system.
25:02The scientists have waited a year to dive on Loki's castle,
25:06but right now the expedition is looking dead in the water.
25:10The scientists just have to wait till they find something.
25:16Rolf Pedersen goes to see the captain.
25:19You can't see the transponder at all?
25:21No.
25:23As expedition leader, Rolf is under intense pressure.
25:27He decides to gamble and deploy the ROV
25:30even though its navigation system is down.
25:37If we're not too far away from the vent field,
25:40we may be able to find our way to the field based on knowing the terrain.
25:45But the problem is you don't see very much down there.
25:48The captain thinks they'll be lucky to find anything at all.
25:52Oh, they might find it, but it would be very difficult down there.
25:57It's very deep, it's dark, the visual is very limited.
26:04But Rolf is betting that in the time it takes for the ROV to get to the bottom,
26:08the captain will have solved the problem.
26:11He knows it's a long shot.
26:15It can be stressful to be the leader
26:18because you have to take the decisions all the time.
26:21Sometimes you take the right decision, sometimes the wrong decision.
26:25Two hours later, and 2,500 metres down,
26:29the ROV is nearing the sea floor.
26:34Back on the bridge, the technician thinks he may have solved
26:37the communication problems with the ROV.
26:40The captain reboots the computer and waits.
26:45Rolf's gamble pays off. The mission is back on.
26:50So now they can dive safely and find Lucas Castle.
26:59With the ROV's navigation systems up and running,
27:02Rolf directs the pilot to where he thinks the vent field is.
27:06OK, then back up and then move down a little bit.
27:10OK, I think it's over on this side, somewhere on this rock.
27:16He knows they're getting close by the colour of the rocks.
27:19The high iron content in the vent plumes turns them red and orange.
27:24It's very exciting to see the different things
27:27and every time the ROV approaches him, it's a different perspective.
27:35That is good, that is good, that is good.
27:37Nice, keep it like that for a while.
27:40That is nice.
27:43ROV LOCUS CASTLE
27:57They've found what they're looking for.
28:00Locus Castle.
28:02Five deep chimneys, each 11 metres high,
28:05spewing out seawater that's 300 degrees Celsius.
28:10It's a toxic mix of gas and sulphur, yet there's life everywhere.
28:16Unlike the mud volcano, Locus Castle is basically a deep-sea hot spring.
28:22Water and minerals are superheated and pushed up through the earth's crust,
28:26forming these dramatic sea chimneys.
28:30What about taking the white stuff just below that?
28:34That is a different type of...
28:37Now they've got to make up for lost time and start gathering samples fast.
28:43The ROV's propellers have disturbed delicate white bacterial matter
28:47that's settled around the vents, creating an underwater snowstorm.
28:52You want to suck that in? Yeah.
28:55Collecting bacterial samples from the columns takes a delicate touch.
28:59The pilots use what looks like a giant syringe attached to the ROV's arms
29:04to suck the bacteria into a cylinder.
29:07OK, we have a closer look at this brownish thing.
29:11Rock samples are next.
29:13Many of the scientists will need a piece for further study.
29:18Ah, we got one in.
29:24Ooh, like coral, like corals.
29:29OK, we got a sample.
29:31Good.
29:34Full of microbial life,
29:36they're especially important for geobiochemist Ingen Torseth.
29:41Wow!
29:43This is always something we look for.
29:46And it's so very important, of course, to look back in time
29:50and find out what was going on before we were here.
29:56The pilots continue to gather samples with the robotic arms.
30:00It's all going to plan.
30:02Then, suddenly, they lose power and the arms go dead.
30:07No pressure, no hydraulic pressure.
30:09Yeah. You can't open the sled either.
30:15They're two and a half kilometres down and hours from the surface.
30:19The timing couldn't be worse.
30:21But the ROV has to come back up.
30:25Again, we have a problem.
30:29So we have to find out what's wrong.
30:34Once again, the exploration of Loki's castle is on hold.
30:44With the high-tech ROV out of commission,
30:47biologist Hans-Torre Rapp decides to try something more old-school.
30:52He sends down a dragnet to gather sea sponges,
30:55one of the first multicellular organisms that appeared on Earth.
31:01But at this depth, it's a tricky operation.
31:05And the captain is relying on the ship's echo sounder
31:08to give him a 3D image of the ocean floor,
31:11so he can steer away from anything that might snag the net.
31:16The instrumentation on the ship gives us a fantastic opportunity
31:20to sample places that were impossible to sample before.
31:26Within a few hours, they've bagged a perfect catch of Arctic glass sponges,
31:31extremely primitive animals that may have existed for nearly 500 million years.
31:37I didn't really think that it could be that successful.
31:40The terrain is so rough, I was afraid that we'd lose the gear.
31:44And then we got this fantastic sample.
31:47Hans is pleased with his haul of sponges,
31:50but the other scientists are still relying on the ROV.
31:53Right now, it's in pieces on the deck,
31:56and unless the pilots can fix it, they've seen the last of Loki's Castle.
32:08Marine research vessel GeoSars is floating above Loki's Castle,
32:13a rare hydrothermal vent field in the Norwegian Sea.
32:18But the ship's ROV has suffered a major hydraulic failure,
32:22and the expedition has ground to a halt.
32:26We were a bit disappointed because we didn't get any samples yesterday,
32:30but hopefully today. We're really hoping for samples now.
32:37And with the meter running on GeoSars at $30,000 per day,
32:41the ROV is still floating above the castle.
32:44With GeoSars at $30,000 per day, the ROV pilots are under huge pressure.
32:56We cannot go to bed when we have a problem.
32:59We have to find out what kind of problem, or can we sort it out?
33:03That's better.
33:05The delay means student Bernd Rydland Olsen has caught a break.
33:09Now he may get his chance to deploy the Marknesse plankton net.
33:13He needs samples to complete his thesis about the food chain at Loki's Castle.
33:19But Captain Vindernes still isn't convinced the big net is safe to use at this depth.
33:25Knowing that, Rolf has pored over the design specs before going to the bridge to make his pitch.
33:31And also we have an indication of the weight.
33:36We checked with the specification on the pressure instrument
33:41and that's at 5,000 meters, but clearly we're not going to get that depth anyway.
33:46It will be around 2,000, 2,200.
33:49I think we should make an attempt to put out the Marknesse.
33:54That's a great relief because then hopefully he will get some good samples.
33:58Yes.
34:00It's the news Bernd's been waiting for.
34:06I'll go and place the ship on top of Loki and if you need me to move you just let me know.
34:12Yes.
34:14At 3 a.m. the net goes over the side.
34:18And Bernd is wide awake, monitoring the computer
34:21to make sure the net opens and closes at the correct depths.
34:28He's not the only one who can't sleep.
34:32Continuous daylight and the heavy workload have played tricks with everyone's body clock.
34:38Workouts in the middle of the night.
34:41And quick naps snatched between shifts.
34:48Morning finds the pilots still laboring over the ROV and still unable to fix it.
34:55The hangar is getting crowded now because they're hauling in the Marknesse plankton net.
34:59And it's got a problem too.
35:22But before it broke, the net managed to scoop up a load of plankton.
35:26And Bernd has enough to complete his thesis.
35:38And that's not all. A strange sea worm has also been caught in the net.
35:51A biologist's dream. An undiscovered creature for further study.
35:57Back in the hangar, the ROV pilots have finally traced the problem back to an electric motor.
36:15To be safe, they disable one of the hydraulic arms so it won't overload the new motor.
36:21And the ROV is deployed for another dive down to Loki's castle.
36:36On the bottom, the single working arm starts gathering samples.
36:41Then, disaster. Unbelievably, the ROV has failed for the third time.
36:54The expedition is starting to feel jinxed.
36:58The ROV is brought back to the surface.
37:01But the ROV is still in a state of shock.
37:04The expedition is starting to feel jinxed.
37:07The ROV is brought back to the surface and the pilots break out their tools again.
37:21The problem this time is the ROV's hydraulic fluid.
37:24It's turned thick as treacle in the cold.
37:27The vent itself may be 300 degrees, but all around it, the water is minus one.
37:34Because of the thick oil, the motor is stressed.
37:41We have to make thinner oil. We've got to make thinner oil.
37:47A transfusion of lightweight hydraulic fluid may fix the problem.
37:51And once again, they'll have to replace the burned-out motor.
37:57This spare is their last, and it's not as powerful as the others.
38:04This is a little bit smaller, so we have to be very careful with the pressure.
38:10This is sort of critical now that it works.
38:13If this motor fails, then we're running out of options.
38:17For tomorrow, we're hoping that everything works again,
38:20and we really need the technical ability to be able to manipulate the arms
38:25in order to do any kind of sampling.
38:29It's all come down to one last motor, one last dive,
38:34and one final chance to get it right.
38:38Everyone is nervous.
38:40The team is hoping the makeshift repairs on the ROV will do the trick.
38:492,500 metres down, it's gliding towards the vent field.
38:55The team knows they're near Loki's castle, but something isn't quite right.
39:02What they're seeing on the monitors is a completely new seascape.
39:08What a garden!
39:10What a garden! I haven't even seen pictures like this.
39:14No, this is completely new.
39:16Nobody's seen this before.
39:18Instead of tall chimneys, they now see strange, white,
39:22coral-like structures emerging from the sea floor.
39:26A whole new ecosystem and undiscovered life-forms
39:30a few hundred metres from Loki's castle.
39:34There's a fish coming.
39:36Seeing the same as last year is also exciting.
39:38We're seeing something new that's really exciting.
39:44So far, the ROV is working, but Rolf isn't taking any chances.
39:49OK, before something happens, we should try to get a sample.
39:53This is exactly when the ROV failed on the last dive.
39:57Everyone holds their breath.
40:00The pilots extend the ROV's one working arm
40:03and open the suction chamber to pull in samples of bacteria.
40:10Take it all. Take it all.
40:14It's working.
40:16On the last dive of the expedition, their last chance,
40:19the ROV is working like a charm.
40:22Oh, we got it.
40:27Good pilots. Good pilots.
40:29Very good pilots, yeah.
40:31Loaded with samples of rock, water and bacteria,
40:34the ROV is hoisted back on board.
40:37We are smiling a little bit better now
40:40than we were a couple of hours ago,
40:43two, three, four hours ago.
40:45I think everybody will be happy.
40:48It's like Christmas morning on the hangar deck.
40:51More tube worms for Hans.
40:55We have a couple of dozens of new species
40:58all in this small wet field.
41:01So it's unique.
41:03Mysterious and puzzling rock samples
41:06are an historic find for Ingen.
41:09Inside, small pieces of bacteria.
41:12If these microscopic life forms actually eat the rocks,
41:16Ingen is trying to figure out how.
41:19Scientists speculate that if microbes can exist in rocks here,
41:23they can exist in the rocks on Mars.
41:28Ingen is trying to find out how.
41:31It's not easy.
41:33It's not easy.
41:35It's not easy.
41:37It's not easy.
41:39How can they exist in the rocks on Mars?
41:46The team on GeoSARS was hoping for a voyage of discovery
41:50and what they found could change our understanding of the ocean.
41:55Near an underwater volcano,
41:57they uncovered life forms that can live in an almost toxic environment.
42:02They stumbled upon a stunning deep-sea garden
42:05at the Lokis Castle vent field.
42:08unearthed primitive sponges, and hopefully new forms of microbes
42:12that may tell us how life began.
42:16I'll be busy for the next couple of months, years, I don't know.
42:23Their findings may lead to more questions than answers.
42:29This was excellent.
42:31It really saves the crews from the trouble we had, you know,
42:34and be able to find these new things. That was good.
42:39GeoSARS is heading back to port.
42:42The scientists are going home, but not the ship's crew.
42:46They're already booked for their next assignment.
42:49This time, it's a deep-sea mapping mission.
42:52We estimate to be in France tomorrow afternoon,
42:56and change of scientists, and start for the next cruise.
43:02GeoSARS is a mighty seagoing explorer.
43:06Built to pursue the mysteries of the deep, on Earth's final frontier.
43:36NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology