Harry, we all agree with that. But, its a matter of money, and the expense of the ROV capabilities, and the support ship and crew. Having a robotic ROV will be expensive. I'm sure Ric has those numbers, and cringes everytime he sees them.
My personal feeling is that IF what Richie, Jeff and others have found in the video & stills ARE parts of the Electra, then I would think that there would be a favorable response from folks with the capabilities (or $ to fund them) to bring up some of these targets. I am very optomistic that TIGHAR can raise the $$$ necessary.
Tom
True - TIGHAR has a large task on its hands - they need to find good reason to return to a spot already filmed - and I'm sure it is hard to get the level of sponsorship that's required for this search.
I like the idea of a manipulator - and I'm sure TIGHAR probably does too, perhaps even on the first trip. One thing that has not been mentioned is that Kiribati may not be willing to allow TIGHAR to go willy-nilly gouging at precious reef, either - there may be a duty to clearly identify targets before wrenching them out of the reef face or sediment for all I know. I would not be surprised - and the point is TIGHAR may not be free to go prodding and pulling at every formation that resembles a 'loop, wheel or hatch handle' on that reef.
For instance - the 'loop' was in high favor here for a few days - but watch the 'moving' film carefully to get full context: it is not a 'loop' unless you see it in the still, which captures a unique perspective of what is really a rather gnarled outcropping of coral or rock - not even close to a 'loop'. It's going to take a lot more than just studying the stills to sort things out - it's a 3-D world down there in a big way.
What is going on here is a fascinating exercise - but I have to admit, that's mainly because of the enthusiasm, not so much that I think the holy grail is going to be spooked-up from the coral from it.
Enjoy!
LTM -