This is the final episode of this season of Catch Our Drift and it’s all about the deep ocean, and whether we should be mining it? 

Not so long ago, people genuinely thought the deep ocean was a vast void space empty of life. But as scientists have explored deeper, it’s become clear that there’s life all the way down to the very greatest depths many miles beneath the waves. And there are also great mineral riches down there. And there are plans in the pipeline for mining the seabed. Dr Diva Amon tells us more about what is at the very bottomof the ocean and why this remote, unseen part of th planet matters to us all. And we ask Gerard Baron, Chairman and CEO of the The Metals Company, about his company’splans to open the world’s first deep seabed mines.

This week we’re diving into the language, words and stories of the seas. Since time immemorial, people have been inspired by the ocean, to imagine and understand what lies beneath the waves, and to build connections to this vital place by finding words and stories that speak of the ocean and why it all matters; with special guests Manchán Magan, Monique Roffey and Kirti Ramesh

This week on Catch Our Drift, we are exploring the parallel realms of Outer Space and Inner Space as we gaze at the stars and also turn our eyes downwards to contemplate the vast ocean depths.

We’re delighted to be joined by astronaut and aquanaut Kathy Sullivan – the only woman to have walked both in space and descend to the ocean’s greatest depth.  Who better to tell us about both worlds?   Fabien Cousteau shares his plans to build Proteus, the ocean’s equivalent of the International Space Station, an underwater habitat that will enable aquanauts to live on the seabed for weeks at a time.  And ice cream seller turned oceanographer Craig Donlon discusses his work at the European Space Station monitoring the impacts of climate change on our ocean from space.