The Voyages of Discovery
This is about the Earth and her oceans.
It is about the long struggle of humankind to uncover the secrets whispered in the deep, and to explore the structure and history of Planet Earth buried beneath the ocean floors. 
It is about the people of the Ocean Drilling Program, and the human spirit which sees no boundaries.

Between 1768 and 1779 Captain James Cook sailed into history. Cook was a British naval officer who never participated in a major naval engagement and yet remains to this day one of the most well-known captains in history. 
Captain Cook completed three circumnavigations of the world, the first on the Endeavour, and the last two with the Resolution. The contributions of Cook’s voyages introduced the European world to scientific exploration. Each of his ships carried scientists, illustrators, and draftsmen. Each voyage changed the way the world was viewed, documenting botanical, meteorological, and ethnographic discoveries.

Cook took the Resolution into the high southern latitudes, pushing against the ice and brittle weather conditions to prove or disprove the existence of the Antarctic continent. It was from the decks of the Resolution that much of the geography of the Pacific Ocean was charted. Not only the land formations but also the people were introduced to the world, marking the beginning of scientific studies of ethnicity. Cook perfected the use of chronometers in determining longitude, and earned the sobriquet “father of modern marine surveying.” Finally, sailing into northern latitudes, once more against the ice, the Resolution and her crew disproved the theory of a northwest passage above North America. 

Today, in the wake of Cook and the Resolution, the Ocean Drilling Program continues the spirit of scientific exploration.
The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) supports an international partnership of scientists and governments to explore Earth’s hidden frontier—all beneath the seafloor. Water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, creating a barrier that has withstood exploration for centuries. The JOIDES Resolution is the key scientists are using to open that barrier.
The investigation of the Earth’s ocean floors would not be possible without a uniquely outfitted drilling vessel. The ship, officially registered as Sedco/BP 471, is known to the scientific community by her informal name, JOIDES Resolution. The ship is 144 meters (471 feet) long and 21 meters (70 feet) wide with a derrick that soars 64 meters(211 feet) above the waterline. A computer-controlled positioning system of 12 thrusters can maintain the ship over a specific location. The ship can drill in water depths up to 8,230 meters (27,000 feet) and can deploy as much as 9,144 meters (30,000 feet) of drill pipe. 
Fifty scientists and technicians sail the world’s oceans in consecutive cruises on board the JOIDES Resolution. For the eight weeks of each cruise, the science party with the aid of 62 crew members drill holes deep into the seafloor to penetrate millions of years of Earth’s geologic history and retrieve evidence in the form of cores. 
The cores—slender cylinders approximately 9.5 meters (31 feet) of geological history cached in rock and sediment— reveal clues about Earth’s origin, evolution, and present-day structure. Scientists from a variety of disciplines examine the cores to learn about Earth’s basic processes, including the rearrangement of continents, the evolution of life in the sea, and the changes over time of global climate, ocean currents, worldwide sea levels, and Earth’s magnetic field.
JOIDES members are the United States of America, the Canada/Australia Consortium, the European Science Foundation Consortium for Ocean Drilling (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey), Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Scientific Facilities
The JOIDES Resolution contains the world’s most advanced research equipment in operation at sea. Twelve laboratories provide space and equipment for studies in sedimentology, paleontology, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, paleomagnetisms, and physical properties. Special instruments include X-ray-diffraction and X-ray-fluorescence instruments to analyze the mineral structure and chemical composition of rock samples. A cryogenic magnetometer records the history of reversals in Earth’s magnetic field.
Computer, photographic, and library equipment and facilities lend critical technical support. 
Research Cruises
The Ocean Drilling Program’s expeditions have enabled scientists to further our understanding of Earth’s structure. Scientists from more than 30 nations have addressed problems relating to the origin and evolution of ocean crust, the tectonic evolution of continental margins, and the processes of plate collision. They have been able to study ancient environmental conditions, including long-term changes in Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, polar regions, and biosphere.
Since January 1985, the ship has ranged throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and polar oceans, recovering more than 98 kilometers (61 miles) of core. She has sailed the Mediterranean, Greenland, Norwegian, Labrador, Weddell, Sulu, Celebes, Philippine, and Japan seas.
Her high-latitude capabilities were successfully tested north of the Arctic and south of the Antarctic circles.
Scientists participate in ODP in a variety of ways. Beyond the adventure of the cruises, scientists have the opportunity to collaborate on critical issues of scientific research and interpretation. After samples are analyzed, results are published in volumes of the Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, comprising two series, Initial Reports and Scientific Results, as well as in leading research journals. 
Today’s scientists as well as those of future generations will continue to analyze the cores that ODP retrieves from beneath the world’s oceans. Their ongoing research will become a platform of the growing body of knowledge in earth sciences, eventually enabling us to put together the pieces of Earth’s geologic past and present to help us benefit its future.
Science Operators
Texas A&M University serves as science operator for the program. In this capacity Texas A&M oversees operation of the drill ship, maintains the laboratories, and provides logistical and technical support for the scientific teams. On shore, Texas A&M manages scientific meetings, curates cores from the Pacific and Indian oceans, distributes samples, and edits and publishes the scientific results.
The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, N.Y., manages the program’s geophysical and geochemical wireline logging and a site-survey database.
ODP manages four repositories that curate and store cores for this and future generations of scientists. Repositories in the United States are at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California; and Texas A&M University, College Station. The newest repository is in Bremen, Germany.
Organization of the Ocean Drilling Program
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is the principal funding agency. The Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI, Inc.), a consortium of 10 major U.S. oceanographic institutions, manages the program. The Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES), an international group of scientific organizations, provide overall planning and program advice.

The Resolution and the voyages of discovery
TEN YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS
The Ocean Drilling Program and the JOIDES Resolution