Challenger Deep

The Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the oceans, 10,911 meters (35,797 feet) deep at its maximum, near 11° 22'N 142° 36'E.

It is in the Pacific Ocean, off the island of Guam in the Mariana Islands group at the southern end of the Mariana Trench.

The Challenger Deep got its named after the survey ship Challenger II, which was surveying the trench in 1951. On 23 January, 1960, the US Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste descended to 10,916 meters (35,813 feet) deep in the trench.

In 1984, a Japanese survey vessel using a narrow, multi-beam echo sounder took a measurement of 10,923 meters (35,838 feet).

A Japanese robotic deep-sea probe, known as Kaiko, broke the depth record for unmanned probes when it reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep on 24 March, 1995. Created by the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center , it was one of the rare few unmanned deep-sea probes in operation that could dive deeper than about 19,680 feet. It's recorded depth of 10,911 m (35,797 ft) for the Challenger Deep, is believed to be the most accurate measurement taken yet. Sadly, Kaiko was lost at sea on 29 March, 2003, after just more than 8 years of service, when one of the secondary cables snapped during an approaching typhoon. Currently no other operational vehicle exists that is capable of reaching the same depths.