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Nekton Mission

Hey Everyone!

Ant here, with some exciting news! Our Nekton family is growing with real-life deep ocean missions. We’ve joined forces with Nekton – a group of amazing scientists and aquanauts who explore and protect the ocean. With less than 10% of life in the ocean discovered so far and most of it not protected, we all have a lot to do. Our brothers and sisters at Nekton are leading the way and in the last few years have already discovered the Rariphotic Zone – the rare light zone – one of the largest habitats found on Earth in years. Plus they have protected huge areas of the ocean and even done the world’s first tv series and comedy show from their submarines.

Learn more on their site nektonmission.org and watch this film about our first few years exploring the deep – Nektonmissionoverview

 

Mission 1: NW Atlantic: 2016-2018

Nekton’s first Mission explored the ocean around Bermuda. During this mission, the Nekton team made extraordinary discoveries including a major new habitat in the ocean – the Rariphotic (Rare Light Zone) and over 100 new species, from the little animals (cryptofauna) to the big ones, like giant new corals – the ‘Oak trees’ of the deep. They also documented the deepest ever recorded lionfish, and made the first maps of a massive undersea volcano, and more… Not a bad start for Nekton Mission 1!

Take a Deeper Dive: Mission1Overview

MISSION 2: FIRST DESCENT: SEYCHELLES 2019


During First Descent: Seychelles we did over 70 first descents in the mission’s submarines – the first people to discover life in the deep sea around Seychelles. With a team from 14 different countries, we were at sea for 50 days, covering thousands of miles, and discovered dozens of new species and helped protect a huge area of the ocean. We even did the world’s first live submarine TV series and broadcast the news from the deep and took the President for a dive. He was beamed live from the depths to over 100 countries in the world asking people to protect the sea and it became the biggest news story of the day all over the world. Nicely done Nekton!

Take a deeper dive into First Descent: Seychelles – FirstDescentOverview

MISSION 3: MALDIVES, 2022

We’re off to explore and protect this vast ocean nation with 99% sea and only 1% of it is actually land. The tiny islands are built on the summits of a ridge of ancient undersea volcanoes and are only on average 1.5metres above sea level. As the seas are rising, time is against us… but scientists and aquanauts from the Maldives and Nekton are discovering the ocean below 20metres for the first time and trying to find and protect new species and reefs to help protect the country . With over 40 species of shark, and 40 species of ray, the first descents are going to reveal no end of surprises!

Watch the Nekton Maldives Mission 2022

Submarine Journey to the Deep in 360

Click on the video on the side to see what it is like to go on a unique dive inside one of Nekton’s submersibles to explore the deep ocean and become a part of a research mission. The pilot is Nekton’s very own Mission Director Oliver Steeds, and you’ll experience the launch and recovery of the subs, flying up and over an underwater mountain (a dormant subsea volcano), and see what the team does during their pioneering journeys of discovery.

LEARN ABOUT THE ORIGINAL NEKTON DIVE


Take a dive to full ocean depth with the original Nekton – Captain Don Walsh. In 1960, Don, along with Jacques Picard, became the first people ever to descend 7 miles down to the deepest part of the world’s ocean, Challenger Deep. That’s deeper than Mount Everest is tall! The Mission was codenamed Project Nekton by the US Navy.

Parents & Teachers

Go Blue and learn more about the deep sea!

We think deep-ocean manned submersible (mini-submarine) expeditions are the perfect vehicles to learn about the ocean. Nekton use all the cutting-edge technologies from our expeditions – including the submarines and live broadcast links from our Mothership so you can join us on our journeys of discovery …. And bring the deep sea to classrooms around the world. Check out all the films and a range of different lesson plans and tools for your teachers to help educate you about the frontiers of science and exploration.

https://nektonmission.org/initiatives/comms/sub-stem