Mines Researchers Part of NASA-funded Sinkhole Expedition

GOLDEN, Colo., May 15, 2007 – John Spear, Colorado School of Mines assistant professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, and graduate student Jason Sahl are joining a group of scientists and researchers in northeastern Mexico this week to explore the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole.

The Mines team is part of a NASA-funded expedition to reach the bottom of Cenote Zacatón with an autonomous robotic submarine known as the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX).

The DEPTHX project spans multiple disciplines including engineering, robotics, geology and planetary science. Spear and Sahl are focused on the geomicrobiology of the cenote.

Following successful earlier field tests, this week's expedition aims to explore depths unreachable by man in the past -- the sinkhole is believed to be more than 282 meters deep. The device will collect 3-D map data as well as water samples during the expedition.

The project was funded as part of NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets program. In the future, the DEPTHX technology could help scientists search for life on other planets or moons.

Stone Aerospace is leading the mission that includes collaboration by The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and the Southwest Research Institute.

Marc Airhart, a science writer with the Jackson School of Geosciences, will post updates from the field at http://geology.com/zacaton/.