/sci/ - Science & Math

>>3623370

>The ocean floor is mostly boring, undifferentiated basalt. It's "ore" about the same as granite is "ore", only less so. Almost all of the useful ore formation processes only happen on the continental plates.

This is true, but you've neglected to mention that while there are vast stretches of abyssal plain between sites of interest, those sites are nonetheless numerous as shown in this map: >>3623321

It shows 800 billion in rare earths, and trillions in gold, platinum, copper and manganese.

>People who figure the ocean is the future because it's so big are about as clueless as people who figure China is the future because it has such a big population.

It's not just about size. It's the fact that it's laid unexploited since the formation of the planet. The resource density down there is beyond anything you'll find on land because it's remained untouched for all this time. It's like we live right next door to an alien planet that we've just now developed the technology to settle and industrialize. :D

Bump, shit's getting good, get in here gents

>>ecological stewardship is hardly profitable.

But it's necessary, and a side benefit of living and working in the sea.

>>Also what's to prevent aquaculture from becoming like current day factory farming?

Nothing? Except that it's immensely better for the ocean than trawling, all vehicles involved are zero emission (subs being battery/fuel cell powered) and people don't empathized with fish the way they do with cows.

>>What about many of the problems associated with current aquaculture, what happens when aquaculture is deployed on a massive scale and waste can't be dissipated fast enough?

We come up with solutions. Like every other obstacle on the way to the future. You want to get there, right?

Undersea science habitats eventually run out of things to study in their vicinity. But then, a space station in low earth orbit has a much more limited area of knowledge to explore. We've been doing the same basic low grav experiments aboard the ISS since the first module came online. Busywork, to make it appear worth the investment.

Compare that to the Aquarius, which has been moved three times so far to study different ecosystems and environments. Reefs, vents, kelp beds, seagrass 'meadows', the ocean floor is a diverse place and a seafloor science base can be moved around to explore all of it.

And that's all at a drastically lower price. A price that has come down considerably in the past few decades mainly due to advances in materials like acrylic, silicone, kevlar, carbon fiber, etc. and affordable compact aircon, dehumidifiers and CO2 removers. Because of this, other nations have begun to get in on the act, sinking their own ocean labs.

Pictured; Italy's answer to Aquarius.