Expedition 15 Videos

In this video, Jason hovers near a towering vent site called “Bio9.” The tall, elegant structures you see here may look rock solid, but they’re actually incredibly fragile. The towers are made up of a loose collection of minerals that build up as vent fluid flows out of the seafloor and interacts with cold seawater. Their loose consistency makes them very difficult to sample, as you can see in this video from Monday.