In Monday's New York Times, William Broad penned a great, behind-the-scenes illustration of the new deep-sea submersible being built to succeed the Alvin Remotely-Operated vehicle (ROV).
The original Alvin will be leaving some big shoes to fill -- he was the first to dive on the Titanic, and opened our eyes to the mysteries of the black smokers; hydrothermal vents hiding deep in the oceans that scientists now think may have been the home of the first life on Earth.
Apart from the story's lead -- forging a huge sphere of near-molten titanium -- there are couple of other major technical hurdles to overcome before the new Alvin will come to life.
But I've got faith that these ocean engineers can come through. I spent six weeks on board a research vessel in the North Atlantic back in 2002 and for my money, no one combines a love of research with a lust for heavy machinery like an oceanographer.
Image: San Diego State University, via NOAA
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