Haun, Eric
Editor-
Sea Machines Opens Office in Hamburg
Boston-based developer of autonomous vessel technology Sea Machines Robotics announced it will open an office in Hamburg, Germany in a move aimed at better access to European-based customers, innovators and investors. The company said its second office will provide convenient access to several key locations and will support growing demand for engineering, sales and marketing across Europe. Sea Machines…
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Ocean Infinity Buys Its 9th HUGIN AUV
Ocean Infinity, the U.S. company currently searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, said it has grown its fleet of 6,000 meter rated Kongsberg HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). The latest purchased HUGIN vehicle, Ocean Infinity’s ninth, will be specifically configured to conduct under-ice surveys and features Kongsberg’s Highly Integrated Synthetic Aperture Sonar (HISAS). Other…
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US Navy to Survey Downed Aircraft in the Philippine Sea
The U.S. Navy said it has contracted a research vessel owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen to survey the location of a downed C-2A Greyhound plane before attempts are made to recover the aircraft from 18,500 feet below the surface in the Philippine Sea. The C-2A Greyhound was transporting 11 crew and passengers when it crashed into the ocean on November 22, 2017, killing three. On December 29…
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Polarcus Awarded 4D Project in Asia Pacific
Marine geophysical company Polarcus Limited said it has received a letter of award for a 4D marine seismic acquisition project in the Asia Pacific region. The project is due to commence in the first quarter of 2018 and will run for approximately one month. A Polarcus spokesperson said the company could not share further information around the project. Following this award the Polarcus’ active fleet is 100 percent booked for the first quarter.
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Expedition to Capture First 4K Images of the Titanic
A manned submersible set to survey the RMS Titanic wreck site this summer will be equipped with a range of high-tech underwater imaging equipment that will capture the first ever 4K images of the historic shipwreck. Starting in June 2018, manned submersible services provider OceanGate Inc. will lead a group of scientists, content experts and mission specialists to explore and survey the wreck site in a series of week-long missions from St. John’s, Newfoundland.
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Bibby Offshore Recapitalization Completed
Subsea services provider Bibby Offshore Holdings Limited said it has completed the recapitalization of its balance sheet announced on December 5, 2017. The agreement to recapitalize the balance sheet was approved January 10 by 98.7 percent of noteholders of the £175 million (approximately $243 million) 7.5 percent senior secured notes, and makes noteholders the new owners of the group. “The completion…
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Researchers to Laser Scan Titanic Wreckage
A research team armed with the latest in state-of-the-art underwater technology will set out this summer to capture laser data of the RMS Titanic wreckage. The six-week expedition will depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland in June, sending scientists, content experts and mission specialists to explore the historic wreck site aboard OceanGate's manned submersible Cyclops 2, the first to survey the Titanic since 2005.
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Real-time Sonar Fit onto US Navy Minehunting AUV
A real-time synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) system has been integrated and tested on board a U.S. Navy autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that will perform minehunting duties for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Rhode Island. The AUV, a fully modular REMUS 600 manufactured by Kongsberg Maritime subsidiary Hydroid, was designed through funding from the Office of Naval Research to support Naval operations requiring extended endurance…
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Downed US Navy Aircraft Found in Philippine Sea
A U.S. Navy team has located a C-2A Greyhound aircraft that crashed in the Philippine Sea on November 22. The downed aircraft rests at a depth of about 18,500 feet, making the salvage operation the deepest recovery attempt of an aircraft to date, the Navy said, adding it will make every effort will be made to recover the aircraft and fallen Sailors, despite very challenging conditions. Eight of the 11 crew and passengers on board were recovered immediately following the crash.
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China's Giant Floating Solar Plant Goes Live
China's Three Gorges Group started producing power from a 150-megawatt floating solar plant in east China, the largest of its kind in the world, official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. The solar power project in Huainan in Anhui province, developed by the new energy unit of state-run Three Gorges Group, is expected to be in full operation in May next year, the report said. The one-billion-yuan…
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Russia is Developing Subsea Production Systems
The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade is working with Gazprom and several Russian research institutions to develop domestic subsea production systems for prototype production in 2019 and testing in 2020. The initiative is underway as the country aims to reduce its dependence on imports in its oil and gas industry, specifically in natural gas liquefaction projects. Subsea production systems enable hydrocarbon production in severe climatic conditions…
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Monet Cable System Ready for Service
A 10,556 kilometer submarine cable enhancing connectivity from the United States to Brazil has been completed and is ready for service. Commercial traffic via the intercontinental Monet Cable System is expected to commence shortly, announced project partners from the U.S., Brazil, Angola and Uruguay. Monet is owned by Google, telecom company and internet service provider Algar Telecom, wholesale telecom company Angola Cables and telecom company Antel…
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Fugro Joins Hunt for Long-lost WWI Sub
The first submarine to serve the Royal Australian Navy was lost without a trace on September 14, 1914 while patrolling waters off then German New Guinea. Despite several search attempts over the last century, the fate of the vessel and the men on board remains unknown to this day. As part of a new search mission to find the missing HMAS AE1 submarine and its crew, Dutch geosciences company Fugro said…
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Unmanned Vehicles Aid Search for Argentine Sub
A fleet of four high-tech unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) deployed by the U.S. Navy have joined ships and aircraft from more than a half dozen countries to search for an Argentine navy submarine missing with 44 submariners on board in the southern Atlantic. One Bluefin 12D (Deep) UUV and three Iver 580 UUVs operated by the U.S. Navy's recently-established Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1, based in Pearl Harbor…
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Kraken Sets out to Advance Offshore Digitalization
Oil and gas companies are no stranger to big data, technology and digital innovation, but Canada based marine technology company Kraken Robotics Inc. believes the industry has yet to take full advantage of the opportunities that derive from using big data and robotic technology in a meaningful way. A single drilling rig can generate terabytes of data every day, yet only a small fraction of it is used for decision-making, it said.
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Unmanned Vehicles In, On and Above the Water
As part of the annual BlueTech Week in San Diego, attendees were given an opportunity to see several unmanned vehicle technologies in action. The main event was put on by a team consisting of Marine Advanced Research, Inc.; Planck Aerosystems, Inc.; and Teledyne Marine, Inc. (all with bases in California). Together, the team demonstrated multi-interoperability among five different unmanned systems on the water, in the air and subsea.
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BlueTech Week: International Smart Collaboration in Focus
Delivering the keynote address to a packed room during the BlueTech Summit & Tech Expo in San Diego on November 8, Pål Narve Somdalen, Counselor for Trade and Industrial Affairs, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Washington D.C., discussed Norway’s role within the maritime, marine, energy and technology sectors, and touched upon areas for collaboration with partners in the U.S. and around the globe. Now in its ninth running…
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US Tidal Energy Test Site: Installation Set for Next Week
Installation work for a permanent tidal power test site, a first of its kind in the U.S., is expected to begin in the Cape Cod Canal next week. Having received final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the test site installation in September, the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo) said the Bourne Tidal Test Structure is slated for delivery in New Bedford on Friday, November 3, where it will be placed on a barge owned by AGM Marine, Inc.
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New ASV Delivered to University of Southampton
The first of ASV Global’s brand-new class of C-Cat vessels to roll off the production line has been delivered to the University of Southampton. The 3-meter autonomous catamaran, funded by an EPSRC RAS Capital Award, will be used by the university for scientific research and development of autonomous behaviors. The C-Cat 3 is “unlike any other vessel on the market,” according to Vince Dobbin, ASV Global Sales and Marketing Director.
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Mæland Steps in as DeepOcean CEO
DeepOcean’s board of directors announced that company COO Ottar Mæland will take over the responsibilities as acting CEO of DeepOcean, succeeding current CEO Bart Heijermans, who has decided to step down. Heijermans, who led the company through an ownership change during his tenure as CEO, has decided to step down from his position effective November 18, 2017. He will remain on the company’s board as a nonexecutive director.
