U.S., Japan Plunge Into ‘Inner Space’ Race : Oceans: A California exploration team plans to plumb the depths of the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, which is nearly seven miles deep--a mile deeper than Mt. Everest is high.

Americans soon will enter a new space race, one in which explorers and scientists hope to fathom “inner space”--the ocean.

This time, however, the Americans won’t be racing the Russians. The competition is Japan.

Ocean engineer Graham Hawkes and his company, based across San Francisco Bay in Richmond, plan to plumb the depths of the Mariana Trench, about 200 miles southwest of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

At almost seven miles, the trench is the deepest region of the ocean, a mile deeper than Mt. Everest is high and seven times deeper than the Grand Canyon.

The Americans--and the Japanese--won’t quite be boldly going where no one has gone before.

The bottom of the trench was visited in 1960 by Navy Cmdr. Don Walsh and famous marine explorer Jacques Piccard, but their stay lasted only about 20 minutes.

“We landed and stirred up ooze,” Walsh said of the trip in the bathyscaph Trieste. “It swirled in front of the window and didn’t go away.”

The experience was like “being in a big bowl of milk,” said Walsh, a consultant on Hawkes’ project.

Among other things, Walsh, 65, went on to develop the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies at USC. He also founded International Maritime Inc., which has conducted marine work in 15 nations.

Walsh hopes the new explorers have an easier time than he did.

If there’s an underwater version of “flying by the seat of your pants” Walsh and Piccard did it.

In contrast, Hawkes said he will introduce a new generation of submersibles based on aircraft design.

Speaking of aircraft, it was Hawkes who drew headlines two years ago when he found five planes off Florida’s coast that were thought to be a World War II “Lost Squadron.” But as Hawkes examined them further, he concluded that the five Avengers crashed separately and not as a unit.

“We are using the same principles behind aircraft design to create a new generation of vehicles: underwater planes that will fly under water,” said the head of Hawkes Associates.

The Trieste worked more like a hot air balloon.

“We could only go up and down,” Walsh said of the ponderous craft.

Hawkes’ concept is to explore the world’s oceans using small, lightweight vehicles that most researchers can afford to operate.

Hawkes Associates has already developed Deep Flight I, a forerunner to the vehicle that will probe the trench. Deep Flight I was built with help from sponsors that included the National Geographic Society and TV New Zealand.

An unmanned expedition is envisioned for early next year, with a human-guided expedition slated for 1996. Plans call for Hawkes’ former wife, Sylvia Earle, to take part. A distinguished scientist, Earle served as chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This is an ambitious effort we are taking on without government support to challenge the Japanese lead in deep ocean exploration,” Hawkes said.

Hawkes said he is not opposed to Japan’s efforts. He just doesn’t want the United States to “sit on the beach while Japan explores the last frontier on Earth.” Japan’s Shinkia is capable of the world’s deepest dives--down to about 21,300 feet.

Hawkes said the end of the Cold War could give him an edge.

“We are fortunate to be able to build off new technologies that were developed by the U.S. Navy. We’re capitalizing on America’s lead in exotic ceramic materials and fiber-optic cable that’s the size of fishing line to build these vehicles.”

The exotic ceramic materials are stronger than metal. Hulls made of ceramic are expected to protect cameras, electronic components and instrumentation from high water pressure in the trench calculated to measure 16,000 pounds per square inch.

All pretty high tech compared to what Walsh and Piccard worked with.

“You know how we found the trench?” Walsh asked.

“We dropped hand grenades and then timed with a stopwatch how long it took to hear the explosion. We must have gone through all the grenades on Guam.”