Bob Ballard

Bob Ballard discussed the current status of ocean exploration and what he hopes it will become. He spoke of how NASA's yearly budget is 1600 times that of NOAA's budget. He also spoke of how most of the ocean is unexplored, like how 50% of America's owned land is unmapped. There are many ignored resources and species of life that lie in the darkness that is the sea. There is also a lack of interest and motivation when it comes to exploring the ocean, yet there is a huge focus of daily life to explore parts of the universe like Mars. I agree with Bob that there needs to be more of a push behind further ocean exploration because why should we take on the big picture of exploring the universe if we haven't even explored our own home.