"Almost a quarter of our planet is a single mountain range and we didn't enter it until after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went to the moon. So we went to the moon, played golf up there, before we went to the largest feature on our own planet"

Robert Ballard’s observation draws attention to the incredible disparity between humanity’s exploration of the cosmos and our investigation of Earth’s own mysteries. His words highlight the size and significance of the oceanic mid-ocean ridge system, the world’s longest mountain range, which is almost entirely submerged beneath the sea. Stretching over 65,000 kilometers, this system wraps around the globe, accounting for nearly a quarter of the planet’s surface area. Yet, the vastness and remoteness of this underwater feature rendered it inaccessible and unknown, even as humanity accomplished extraordinary feats elsewhere.

When Ballard notes that humans reached the moon, traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space and landed on a celestial body, before thoroughly exploring the mid-ocean ridge, the point is made all the more striking. The moon landings, which culminated in moments of leisure such as playing golf on the lunar surface, represent both the technological prowess and adventurous spirit of the human race. However, Ballard’s comparison indicates that the drive for exploration sometimes prioritizes the outwardly dramatic over the quietly profound.

He underscores the irony that even as humans gazed at the stars and traveled across the void, the greatest geological feature on our own planet remained elusive and little-known. The ocean’s depths, with their crushing pressures, darkness, and inhospitable conditions, are more alien in some respects than space itself. The fact that such an enormous and significant structure as the mid-ocean ridge remained unexplored speaks to the challenges and perhaps to our collective undervaluing of terrestrial, particularly oceanic, discovery.

Ballard’s reflection is a reminder of the uncharted mysteries that lie beneath our own feet, waiting for curiosity and ingenuity to unlock their secrets. It is both a celebration of human achievement and a call to pursue discovery in all of Earth’s realms, not just those that capture the most attention.