James Cameron, the director of the two highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic, may join the exploration of Lake Baikal in Siberia by Mir mini-subs.
Russia's Mir-1 and Mir-2 deep-water submersibles started on Thursday the third stage of underwater research of the world's largest freshwater lake, which will last from July 1 through September 5.
"James Cameron has received an official invitation [to join the exploration] from us. He might arrive at Lake Baikal on August 10-15," a spokesman for the Russian Fund for the Protection of Lake Baikal said.
Cameron worked with the Mir mini-subs while filming Titanic in 1997. The advanced deep-water equipment, used during an expedition to the sunken liner, helped to film the ship's destroyed interiors and provided the movie with more authentic sets.
Described by a biographer as part-scientist and part-artist, Cameron has contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies.
During the first stages of the Baikal expedition in 2008 and 2009 the manned submersibles made more than 160 dives. The objective of the program is to research and monitor the ecological and ecosystem in the lake.
Last August, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made a 4-hour dive in the Mir-1 submersible to a depth of 1,395 meters (over 4,500 ft) of the lake.
In a radio conversation to journalists above the surface, Putin said he was surprised that the lake was not as clear as he had earlier thought at that depth, calling it "a plankton soup."
IRKUTSK, July 1 (RIA Novosti)
