Above: The Glomar Challenger was the first research vessel specifically designed in the late 1960s for the purpose of drilling into and taking core samples from the deep ocean floor.
Below: The JOIDES Resolution is the deep-sea drilling ship of the 1990s (JOIDES= Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling). This ship, which carries more than 9,000 m of drill pipe, is capable of more precise positioning and deeper drilling than the Glomar Challenger. (Photographs courtesy of Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A & M University.)
The Resolution (JR) got a complete make over and again sailed in April 2009!
See what she is doing today at the last link!
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