Many have argued that such claims are dated and inaccurate in recent years. The Earth’s oceans may be huge, but they are nothing compared to the vastness of the universe. With today's level of technology, is it true that we still know more about space than our ocean?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Considering what we can see in the universe and the ocean, cartographically speaking, we know the surface of Solar System bodies better than the ocean depths.
Despite technological advances, humanity has only managed to examine roughly 5% of the oceans
This means that we have only truly mapped about 35% of the Earth’s surface.
To date, more people have been to space than those who descended to the Mariana Trench, the deepest location on Earth.
Located in the western Pacific Ocean, the trench is an astounding 11,034 meters deep. For comparison, that’s deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
To put it into perspective, if Mount Everest - the highest location on Earth - was placed upside down into the trench, there would still be almost 2,000 meters before its tip touches the seabed.
Travelling to space is hypothetically easier than the deep sea due to the immense pressure at bigger depths. At 1,000 meters, about 1/10th of the way down, no light from the surface is getting to you anymore.
Mapping the ocean floor in high resolution is also a lot harder than mapping planets and solar systems.
Nasa uses radio waves when exploring space but such methods have been rendered almost useless for the ocean floor since water is in the way.
Discoveries are still being made to this day in an ecosystem made of bizarre-looking organisms. Given the relatively small amount of scientific expeditions, researchers really don't know what else could be living down there. Megalodons maybe?
