I open my email and let out a long sigh. At the top of my inbox is a message titled “Alvin SVE postponed.”

This is not good.

Our chief scientist has just sent a long, detailed message to our whole expedition team. In it, he explains what has gone wrong with the submersible:

“…a problem was encountered with the sub that has resulted in an all-stop of activities… Obviously it is imperative to sort this out before any dive activities resume, and it is not clear at this point how long that process will take, although it is more likely to be months than days.”

We are scheduled to fly down to Puerto Rico four days from now. After months and months of planning, our history-making expedition to take HOV Alvin deeper than ever before is now postponed indefinitely. At this point, no one can say when (or if) the expedition will happen.