re: Dr Robert Ballard is a genuine badass

I’d imagine the are funded through grants. Not sure honestly, but it’s a very expensive endevour. The submersibles are just as amazing as the space shuttle imo.


Edit: interesting bit about the financing of exploring the Titanic


In summer 1985, Ballard was aboard the French research ship Le Suroît, which was using the side scan sonar SAR to search for the Titanic's wreck. When the French ship was recalled, he transferred onto a ship from Woods Hole, the R/V Knorr. Unbeknownst to some, this trip was financed by the U.S. Navy for secret reconnaissance of the wreckage of two Navy nuclear powered attack submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, which sank in the 1960s, and not for the Titanic. Back in 1982, he approached the Navy about his new deep sea underwater robot craft, the Argo, and his search for the Titanic.[4] The Navy was not interested in financing it. However, they were interested in finding out what happened to their missing submarines and ultimately concluded that Argo was their best chance to do so.[4] The Navy agreed it would finance his Titanic search only if he first searched for and investigated the two sunken submarines,[4] and found out the state of their nuclear reactors after being submerged for such a long time,[4] and whether their radioactivity was impacting the environment.[4] He was placed on temporary active duty in the Navy, in charge of finding and investigating the wrecks. After the two missions were completed, time and funding permitting, he was free to use resources to hunt for the Titanic.[4]