Spelunkers Explore Crystalline Cave In New Mexico 99
onehitwonder writes "New Mexico cavers have set foot — for the first time ever — on a 'river' of tiny, white calcite crystals covering a four-mile stretch of the floor of the Fort Stanton Cave in New Mexico. The privileged few spelunkers who have explored the 'Snowy River' formation say they've seen nothing like it. Not only is Snowy River exquisite, it is also home to some three dozen species of microbes previously unknown to man."
Re: Why not send light-weight robots? (Score:3, Interesting)
You're thinking of a big robot. We have also invented many types of small, flying robots that wouldn't have to walk on the floor, climb ropes or move rocks to get into a space. Sure, they can't do as much as a human, but they could take some pictures and maybe collect some samples. Even if they only have a few minutes of battery power, they could still go a lot of places that a human can't. These could easily be carried by a human into the cave and then deployed from a "forward position".