Victor Vescovo has continued to break records in his two-man submersible, the Limiting Factor. In our last update, Vescovo had just completed a record-setting dive to the world's second deepest point, the Horizon Deep just off the Pacific islands of Tonga. From Tonga, the team returned to the Atlantic for another dive down into the abyss of the Puerto Rico Trench, 27,480ft under the waves, while heading north.

Vescovo's ultimate destination was the 18,208ft Molloy Deep in the frigid Arctic ocean, the last goal for his Five Deeps project. However, on route the team decided to make one last stop. The wreck of the Titanic has been underwater for over 100 years. It sits nearly 12,500ft down off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada and had not been visited for over 14 years. The team observed how the wreck has deteriorated. Microbes are slowly breaking down the iron and eventually, the entire structure will return to nature.

After visiting the Titanic, the team approached the Molloy Deep, 270km west of Svalbard, Norway. Vescovo made his final record-setting dive on August 24, dropping through the icy waters over a period of three hours. It marks the first time any human has visited the depths of the Molloy Deep and Vescovo spent an hour collecting samples and exploring the seafloor.

The Five Deeps project has been incredibly successful, safely reaching all five deepest points and mapping over 300,000 square kilometres of the seafloor. The resident science team have announced the discovery of over 40 new species and the water samples will be analysed to hopefully shed new light on the environment at these extreme depths.

The entire project has been filmed for an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary titled “Deep Planet”; no doubt more details from this incredible project will emerge in the coming months.