sucking up samples. this is about 24 feet long, about 11 feet tall, and it weighs about 28,000 pounds. it has enough oxygen and emergency provisions on board for the people to survive under water for up to five days. there is also a back cabin on the submersible called the aft observation chamber. a crew member who keeps an eye on the submersible's vital signs and another scientist share that back area, which is only about 5 1/2 feet by 3 feet. so just to give our viewers an idea how tight it is, this is where you're sitting, this is how i'm sitting, and you could be here for hours. >> reporter: but during those hours, this is what's taking place. >> so we fire up the sonar and it does the sweep and paints us a picture as it spins around 360 degrees on if there's any solid targets on the bottom. it will beep and paint a small picture of what it looks like. >> reporter: the use of high-tech unmanned underwater