NASA Goes Deep In Search Of Extreme Environments

An expedition partially funded by NASA, part of a program to search extreme environments for geological, biological and chemical clues to the origins and evolution of life, has discovered the deepest known hydrothermal vent in the world, nearly 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) below the surface of the western Caribbean Sea.

The research will help extend our understanding of the limits to which life can exist on Earth and help prepare for future efforts to search for life on other planets.