Neptune's Net

摘要

Through the gloom you can just pick out the shape of the science module, its titanium exterior bristling with sensors. From ports in its side, communications cables snake out across the alien terrain. Occasionally, a robot vehicle trundles out of the blackness, docks and downloads the instructions for its next job—an assignment planned by scientists watching the scene on flickering TV monitors. But this isn't Mars—it's the next step in a very Earth-bound branch of science. Tired of having to settle for mere snapshots of life beneath the waves, marine scientists are stashing their wellies and oilskins at the back of the darkest locker in favour of space-age technology that will give them a permanent presence in the deepest, darkest recesses of our planet—the sea floor.