Exploring Volcanoes to Save Lives

Last month BME's co-founder and Chief Explorer, Scott Parazynski, participated in an incredible expedition led by Sam Cossman of Qwake. The team went where no human being had ever gone before--into the mouth of an active volcano--to deploy innovative technology that could provide an early-warning system for millions of people.

Sponsored by General Electric, the expedition focused on the Masaya volcano in Nicaragua. The team consisted of explorers, scientists, filmmakers, and riggers, who ensured everyone's safety while lowering them into the volcano.

Over the course of several weeks, the team made several descents to "Level 0", just above the molten lava, to deploy a network of sensors that will "connect" the volcano for scientists to study and evaluate. Once activated, the network will help provide advance notice of potential eruptions to the millions of Nicaraguans who live near the volcano.

The Qwake team is currently working on a documentary to showcase their work at the volcano, so stay tuned for exciting footage coming out soon!

[All photos courtesy of Qwake]

From Spacecrafts to Submarines

My career in the commercial spaceflight industry has long afforded meaningful intersections with the broader exploration community. Organizations like The Explorers Club have helped to connect like-minded explorers, where two camps inevitably arise: space vs. sea.

While the space community extols the enormity of the unexplored universe, it is not uncommon for oceanic lectures to begin with a comment about more people have walked on the Moon than have reached the deepest point in the sea, or how we know far more about the surface of the Moon than the ocean floor. To the those who suggest space is the Final Frontier, submarine designer Graham Hawkes goes as far as to offer his infamous advice: “your rockets are pointed in the wrong goddamn direction!”

Admittedly, I’ve spent more time following Hawking than Hawkes. I’ve spent the past few years working to advance mankind’s footprint in the solar system, puzzling over the particulars of interplanetary life. I’ve worked alongside industry, academia, and government organizations in the pursuit of space exploration, and I’ve spent weeks at a time in isolation at a prototype Martian research facility, studying in situ resource utilization techniques in the hopes of advancing mankind’s ability to live off-Earth. Beyond the inherent desire to explore space myself, my dedication has always been rooted in the simple fact that Earth will one day cease to support life, and that a future without space exploration is no future at all.

Still, I have always rejected the either/or approach to exploration. As an experienced scuba diver, I’ve always been intrigued by the mysteries of Earth’s vast oceans—an anomaly within our known universe. From hostile environments to extreme lifeforms, it seems evident that dividends from the exploration of both sea and space are critical to our advancement and ultimate survival as a species. So earlier this summer when Blue Marble Exploration founder, Guillermo Söhnlein, invited me to participate in an expedition on board OceanGate’s Antipodes submersible, I jumped at the opportunity.

Stockton Rush—OceanGate's founder, CEO, and sub pilot—utilized advanced sonar to navigate Antipodes in the murky visibility of the ocean floor, allowing our group to explore the remains of the Al-Ind-Esk-A-Sea, a 336-foot fish processing ship that caught fire and burned for several days before sinking off the coast of Seattle in 1982. While I was prepared for the advanced technology that enabled our navigation, I was wholly unprepared for the thrill of submerging hundreds of feet to the ocean floor. Light from the surface dimmed as we descended, and bioluminescent creatures came to life in its absence. Staring out at the alien environment ahead of me, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the same overwhelming sensation experienced by astronauts upon their first glance through the cupola of the International Space Station.

Intellectually, I appreciated the diversity of our planet. But having the opportunity to explore the ocean floor drove home the magnificent uniqueness of Earth within our universe, and how little we truly know about the “blue marble” we call home. The tenacity of life to flourish at those dark depths, and the potential of what we might find even deeper, reminds me how lucky we are to call this planet home, and how much we still have to explore, both on Earth and beyond.

While I remain an evangelist for space exploration, I have a newfound passion for exploring the sea. In 2016, I’ll be joining Blue Marble Exploration on the world’s first crewed submersible expedition to the bottom of Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, an exploration event which will be broadcast live around the world.

While I’m fond of proclaiming that this is the first time in four billion years that it’s possible for life to become interplanetary, I now realize that this is also the first time in four billion years that we have the knowledge and know-how to study the unique features of our own planet. Blue Marble Exploration will offer a path to take advantage of this unique window in history, and I feel privileged to join the mission.

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Contributed by Kellie Gerardi Emerging Explorer Blue Marble Exploration New York, NY, USA

Primal Instinct to Explore

One of the most common questions explorers face is: "Why?"

WHY do you explore?

WHY is exploration important?

WHY do human beings have a history of exploration?

Perhaps it is simply in our nature to do so. Perhaps we have a deeply ingrained survival instinct that our animal brains cannot shake despite thousands of years of evolution. Or perhaps we are simply following our destiny as "wanderers".

Carl Sagan was one of the biggest proponents of our sense of exploration. Now Swedish digital artist Erik Wernquist has created a powerful video to try capturing that wanderlust. Regardless of whether you believe the viability of humanity ever existing beyond Planet Earth, Wanderers is still a visually compelling piece of art. Enjoy!

Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.

Mars One and the Mars 100

Earlier this week, the team at Mars One announced their "Mars 100". This is a pool of 50 men and 50 women for what the organization hopes will be the first effort to establish a human colony on Mars starting in the next decade. These finalists were selected through a rigorous screening process from over 200,000 applicants. Ultimately, 24 "Martians" will be chosen for the initial six 4-person missions to the Red Planet.

Although this is certainly not the first time anyone has planned a manned mission to Mars, what makes the Mars One approach unique (and media-grabbing) is the fact that it is a colonization mission. This means that every one of these individuals is signing up for a one-way trip. No return voyage is planned.

For some reason, the general public, fueled by a voracious media, continues to focus on what it perceives to be the suicidal nature of this mission. The headlines always seem to echo the question on everyone's minds, "Don't these people know they are going to die doing this?!"

However, this question is baffling.

It seems to presume that the alternative to dying on this mission is to live forever NOT doing the mission. It seems to presume that if these would-be Martians would just stay on Earth, they would be immortal. Of course, this is clearly not the case. Whether a human being dies on Mars or on Earth is simply a matter of geography. One way or another, that human being WILL die. There is no avoiding the natural fate of our mortality.

So ... perhaps the better question should be, "Out of 7 billion people on this planet today, why did ONLY 200,000 apply for this glorious historic opportunity?"

Perhaps one possible answer is that it takes a deep-seeded spirit of exploration to drive a human being to explore an environment as extreme and hostile as deep space, or another planet. While homo sapiens are a naturally curious animal species, this type of drive is quite rare in individual members of the species. This is why the rest of us hold explorers in such high regard ... because most of us could never do what they do, and yet we know that we all benefit from their efforts.

All of the Mars 100 know they are risking their lives, but they willingly do so out of a sense of higher purpose: to push the bounds of humanity's knowledge. And to do so by boldly going where no one has gone before. These are not crazy nuts blindly following a cult toward personal or group suicide. Instead, they are heroes and role models.

One of the Mars 100 said, "When people ask me why I am going to Mars to die, I say we are all going to die, but it's important what you do before you die." Or, as Mel Gibson's William Wallace said in Braveheart, "Every man dies, but not every man really lives."

Perhaps it is time for the media to stop focusing on the one-way aspect of this mission as an act of suicide and instead as a 100% commitment to the colonization of another world?

Not all of us have what it takes to join this mission, but the rest of us are truly fortunate that at least these 100 are up to the task. Let us support their efforts and hope for their ultimate success.

Extreme Environmental Medicine:A Paradigm Shift for Physicians

There can be little doubt that humanity as a whole is becoming more adventurous, with increasing numbers of people venturing into more extreme environments than ever before.

This trend is easily identified in a variety of different areas: there has been substantial growth in the number of qualified scuba divers over the last 30 years, with current worldwide estimates exceeding 14 million; the number of climbers each year on Mount Everest is increasing exponentially, while the number of deaths has remained relatively constant; and almost 700 potential astronauts have signed up for Virgin Galactic’s future suborbital flights, which is more people than have ever flown to space in human history. Thus, more and more people are exploring dangerous environments and in doing so, placing themselves at greater risk for medical illness and injury. However, the nature of these illnesses and injuries are as unique as the environments in which they occur, much different from the common medical problems faced by physicians every day around the world.

The average physician is trained by a medical education system that is designed around the concepts of treating illness and injury as they are related to a “normal” environment. However, when one considers an “extreme” environment, it quickly becomes apparent that the type of medicine for which most physicians are trained may not apply. Extreme environmental medicine requires a paradigm shift for physicians: in extreme environments, patients experience problems that result from a combination of issues related to abnormal anatomy, physiology, and/or the environment itself. This change in the general medical approach to problem solving is not part of the standard medical curriculum and as such, most physicians are not adequately prepared to face the unique challenges in extreme environmental medicine.

In order to manage these types of challenges, extreme environmental medicine physicians must consider a number of factors. First, the types of medical issues encountered by patients in these environments can be unique, such as decompression illness, acute mountain sickness, snake envenomations, etc. Second, whilst in the extreme environment, there will likely be a significant paucity of resources available on hand that can be used at the time of the medical emergency. Third, given that most of these environments are very remote, there will be an inherent lack of access to definitive care (e.g. a hospital) in a timely manner. Fourth, these extreme environmental medicine physicians may have to display substantial clinical autonomy, as consultations with other medical experts may not be possible. Finally, depending on the nature of the environment, evacuation and transport of ill or injured patients may be a necessity.


Training physicians to provide high quality medical care despite all of the challenging factors listed above can be a difficult undertaking. Historically, most of the expertise was developed from experience. However, there are now a few formal educational programs in this area, such as the Fellowship in Extreme Environmental Medicine at the George Washington University. Given the fact that humanity’s need to explore will continue to drive individuals into more and more extreme environments in larger numbers, this field of extreme environmental medicine is very likely to grow.

Over time, it will be these extreme environmental medicine physicians who will be well poised to help support humanity in its continued exploration of the Earth and beyond.

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Contributed by Dr. Kris Lehnhardt Physician and Assistant Professor Emergency and Aerospace Medicine George Washington University Washington, D.C.