Japanese robots study dark oxygen in the Pacific Ocean
The deep ocean has always posed a formidable challenge to human curiosity; the crushing pressure, pervasive darkness, and freezing temperatures have made the ocean floor an environment impervious to conventional exploration. However, human ingenuity has never ceased to innovate, and Japanese researchers recently unveiled a significant leap forward in marine exploration technology: the robots "Alysa" and "Kaya.".
Exploration mission in the “Clarion-Clipperton” area
The Nippon Foundation announced the development of two advanced robots designed to dive to depths of up to 4,000 meters below the sea surface. They are scheduled to be deployed this year in the Clarion-Clipperton area of the North Pacific Ocean. This area is of global interest due to its vast deposits of polymetallic minerals rich in nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
The two robots are designed to withstand pressures 1,200 times greater than atmospheric pressure, a remarkable engineering feat that allows them to operate in an environment that would crush most conventional submarines. Their primary mission will be to collect precise water samples and measure the electrical activity around these mineral rocks.
The mystery of “dark oxygen” and natural batteries
This mission comes within a controversial and intriguing scientific context: the study of the phenomenon of "dark oxygen." Historically, the prevailing scientific belief was that oxygen on Earth is produced exclusively through photosynthesis by plants and algae in the presence of sunlight. However, recent discoveries, the first threads of which were woven in 2013 by researcher Andrew Sweetman, have overturned this understanding.
Studies have shown that mineral nodules on the ocean floor may act as natural “geological batteries.” These electrically charged rocks are capable of generating enough electricity to split seawater molecules (electrolysis) into hydrogen and oxygen, even in the complete absence of light. The robots Alyssa and Kaya are working to observe the electrochemical and biological processes that confirm this hypothesis and elucidate the precise mechanism by which these nodules function.
Global implications for mining and the origins of life
The Dark Oxygen Research Initiative (DORI) is not only important in theory, but also has enormous economic and environmental implications. If these minerals are proven to be the source of oxygen for deep-sea organisms, deep-sea mining plans to extract the minerals needed for batteries and electric vehicles could face international environmental and regulatory hurdles, due to fears of destroying the life-giving resource in these fragile environments.
In addition, these findings may rewrite the history of the origin of life on Earth, opening the door to the possibility that life began in the dark depths of the oceans, relying on this chemical oxygen, long before the development of photosynthesis.
