Updated list of D-Chall dives

James Cameron, Sylvia Earle, and John McCosker can be heard in the first half of today's Science Friday on NPR. 

Google-users can now dredge up a few more bits and pieces about D-Chall's construction details, as posted by companies or experts who participated. I'm almost ready to put out another Sub-Spotters Photogram.

And the Deepsea Challenge website published a few additional expedition notes covering the end of Phase I. That helps round out the third draft of my list, but I still don't get to the official total of 13 actual D-Chall dives unless there were multiple test dives in Jervis Bay.

Date	Location	Max depth (feet)	Notes
1/26/12	Dock at Garden Island Naval Depot, Sydney Harbor	< 5	Checks for buoyancy and water tightness
1/31/12	Dock at Garden Island Naval Depot, Sydney Harbor	< 5	First time JC piloted sub
2/01/12	Jervis Bay, S of Sydney	Reached ocean    floor	Reduced use of heat-emitting equipment, to reduce high temp in pilot sphere
?	Jervis Bay, S of Sydney	?	One or two additional test dives by JC
2/21/12	Jacquinot Bay, Papua, New Guinea	0	Sub launched with JC, but aborted after 1 hr.    Stayed on surface
2/22/12	Jacquinot Bay, PNG	0	Scrubbed due to camera-control problems
2/23/12	Jacquinot Bay, PNG	3,250	Successful dive, photography, moved horiz at 3 kt, and rendezvous with lander Mike and ROV Quasar operated from above
2/27/12	Jacquinot Bay, PNG	0	Scrubbed
2/28/12	Jacquinot Bay, PNG	12,000	Successful rendezvous with landers Mike and Andrew, maneuvered 5 km horiz with guidance from ship
3/04/12	New Britain Trench	23,818	On way to NB Trench bottom, tried to stop 5 kt descent with large dumps of trim shot, then ascended slowly; then dropped ascent weights
3/07/12	New Britain Trench	26,791	Successful dive to trench bottom for photography – maneuvered 1.5 km horiz, 300m vert
3/21/12	Challenger Deep, Vicinity of 11° 22' 59 N, 142° 35' 20" E	“Nearly seven miles”	“Unpiloted” test dive; pressure “almost 8 tons per square inch”
3/25/12	Challenger Deep, Vicinity of 11° 22' 59 N, 142° 35' 20" E	35,756	First solo dive to bottom of hadal zone; photography; part of one push-core sample brought up; surfaced at local noon
4/01/12	West of Ulithi Atoll, in Zowariyau Passage	3,700	RA's first dive; rendez with Mike and ROV Quasar; 25 min descent; 6 hr at bottom; near-vertical scarp; Photography successful
4/04/12	Ulithi Atoll	800
4/04/12	Ulithi Atoll	500	JC piloting