Surface Vehicles News

Dive Technologies Completes Sea Trials with Kraken Sonar, Batteries

Quincy, Massachusetts based Dive Technologies completed successful sea trials of Kraken’s Miniature Synthetic Aperture Sonar (MINSAS 120) integrated onto Dive’s Large Displacement Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (DIVE-LD). The DIVE-LD is also powered by Kraken’s pressure tolerant batteries.“Our team is incredibly excited to continue working with Kraken Robotics,” said Bill Lebo, Dive Co-Founder. “Following our previous successful sea trials with Kraken’s batteries, our team was keen to continue the positive momentum in our vehicle development with integration of

Coda Octopus Debuts Echoscope4G C500 Inspector System

Coda Octopus released the new Echoscope4G C500 Inspector system, designed as a modular, mobile platform to make sonar deployment simple and fast.The Inspector comprises a bespoke, lightweight integrated sensor platform supporting the ISAR rotator and the C500 sonar. The Inspector platform can be suspended and lowered from a single lifting point for near-surface temporary deployments or can be placed directly on the seabed using the extendable tripod legs included with the system. A single integrated sensor cable (ISC) connects the ISAR and C500 sonar to the 3D Connect integrated topside unit providing

Environmental Groups Call on Norway to Stop Deep-sea Mining Plans

Six environmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, on Monday, called on Norway to stop plans to open ocean areas for deep-sea mining.The government in January launched a process to open areas on its extended continental shelf for exploring and producing minerals from the ocean floor, with plans to issue the first licenses as early as 2023."Minerals and metals for the green shift should be obtained from consumption reduction and better reuse on land, not from the depths of the sea where brutal mining can do irreparable damage to nature," the environmentalists

Fugro, MMT Tapped for Seabed Mapping Work at Danish Wind Energy Hub in North Sea

Dutch offshore survey firm Fugro and Sweden's MMT have won contracts with the Danish grid operator Energinet, to carry out seabed surveys for the Danish Energy Island project in the North Sea.The contracts follow an announcement by the Danish authorities in February that the country would build the first of its kind wind energy hub in the North Sea that promises to produce yet unseen amounts of green electricity, in what has been described as the largest construction project in Danish history.The energy hub - an artificial island - will serve as an offshore power plant gathering and distributing

Kraken Robotics Enters LOI to Acquire PanGeo Subsea

Kraken Robotics Inc. has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) in connection with the proposed acquisition of PanGeo Subsea Inc. from Cahill Innovation Inc, a member of the Cahill Group of Companies, and Argentum Asset Management AS. Moya Cahill, a director of Kraken, is a shareholder of Cahill Innovation Inc, and she resigned as a director of Kraken prior to the approval and execution of the LOI in order to ensure proper governance and review of the transaction by a fully arm’s length board.PanGeo is a private Canadian services company specializing in high resolution 3D acoustic

Magseis Fairfield Nets 'Meaningful' Gulf of Mexico OBN Survey Contract

Oslo-listed offshore oil and gas seismic data acquisition company Magseis Fairfield has won a new contract in the Gulf of Mexico.The company has been awarded an Ocean Bottom Node for "a multi-client company," which it did not name."The duration of the survey is approximately four months and will be executed in 2021 using our ZXPLR deepwater ocean bottom node technology," Magseis Fairfield said.Magseis Fairfield's CEO Carel Hooijkaas said: "This project is yet another confirmation that our clients continue to see clear value in obtaining high-quality OBN data to evaluate

Submerged Pick-Up Truck Located Using Underwater Sonar

Moeding, Beadle County’s Emergency Management Director, experienced this first hand. “We used our JW Fishers side scan sonar to pinpoint the location of a 2014 Dodge pickup that was driven into the James River, our local river here in Huron SD.” The driver behind the wheel ran the vehicle into the river during the middle of the night, but could not remember the exact location.  After scouring the shoreline, tire tracks were seen going into the river and the dive team was deployed to find the vehicle. “You can see the pickup was found and its orientation was clearly shown

Phoenix, SUPSALV Perform Record 3.6-mile Deep Salvage

depth of 19,075 feet. This equates to just over 3.6 miles beneath the sea and is 266 feet deeper than the previous salvage record, also set by Phoenix and SUPSALV during an operation in 2019.  The helicopter was located in March of 2020 using the U.S. Navy’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle “Trondheim” and then, a year later, Phoenix and SUPSALV returned to the site and recovered the helicopter on March 21st, 2021 using the U.S. Navy’s Remotely Operated Vehicle “CURV 21” and Fly Away Deep Ocean Salvage System.  Both Trondheim and CURV 21 are rated

The Value of Friends in “High-Latitude” Places

Who do you call when you need a job done on short notice, in total darkness, under 100-percent ice cover, thousands of meters at the bottom of the sea? In the case of the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), you call your friends in Norway. That is exactly what the Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Lorin C. Selby did when he enlisted the help of the Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel, the CGV Svalbard, to retrieve oceanographic moorings containing irreplaceable data. The work supported the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment (CAATEX), an important international

EdgeTech Debuts Pair of Pole Mount Sub-Bottom Profiling Systems

EdgeTech introduces two new Pole Mount Sub-Bottom Profilers to its family of 3400 Sub-Bottom Profiling Systems.The new Ultra-Lightweight Shallow Water and Lightweight Shallow Water over-the-side pole mount 3400-OTS systems transmits wide band Frequency Modulated (FM) pulses using EdgeTech’s Full Spectrum CHIRP technology. The systems use flat multi-channel hydrophone arrays to generate high resolution images of the sub-bottom stratigraphy in oceans, lakes, and rivers and provides excellent penetration in various bottom types. The 3400-OTS receiver array is segmented for standard sub-bottom

Dive Technologies, Metron Partner Up

firm Dive Technologies has entered a commercial partnership with Metron, Inc. "This partnership will directly support the commercialization of Metron’s Autonomy, Navigation, Command & Control (ANCC) software suite on Dive Technologies’ large displacement autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the DIVE-LD. Initial sea testing of the DIVE-LD with ANCC software was completed in December 2020," Dive Technologies said.“The DIVE-LD is pier-launched and designed to stay at sea for up to ten days. The capability of Metron’s advanced autonomy technology is paramount to

Greenpeace Stages Pacific Ocean Protest Against Deep-sea Mining

Greenpeace protested against deep-sea mining in the Pacific on Monday, with the environmental organization’s Rainbow Warrior boat trailing a ship doing research for DeepGreen, a company which plans to mine the seabed for battery metals.Greenpeace activists were pictured in rubber dinghies holding banners reading “Stop Deep Sea Mining!”, with the Maersk Launcher, a ship chartered by DeepGreen, in the background.The protest took place 900 nautical miles (1,036 miles) off Mexico’s western coast, in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) - a huge swathe of seabed where potato-sized

Bolidt Tapped to Supply for OceanX Research Vessel

Bolidt has supplied a range of decking solutions for OceanX’s new flagship OceanXplorer.Following extensive rebuilding work at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, the 87-m former offshore survey vessel is the new flagship for Dalio Philanthropies’ initiative OceanX, whose mission is “to explore the ocean and bring it back to the world”. OceanXplorer will serve simultaneously as a launch pad for deep-sea exploration, a marine life laboratory and a broadcast studio for audiences around the globe.Bolidt installed its decking solutions throughout the vessel. For areas including the main

New Undersea Cable to Link Iceland to Europe

A new high-speed undersea cable system will soon connect Iceland and Ireland, improving the diversity of adequate connections to support the continued growth of Iceland’s modern community and international business environment.SubCom and Farice ehf today announced that a contract is in force to supply and install the cable system, which is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2022.Farice is an international connectivity provider fully owned by the Icelandic Government which currently owns and operates two submarine cable systems that connect Iceland to Europe – FARICE-1 and DANICE.

Subsea Defense: Netherlands Royal Navy appoints RTSYS for 7 ASW Training Targets

RTSYS confirmed a multi-million dollar contract with the State of the Netherlands for the supply of 7 SEMA: Portable & Recoverable ASW Training Target.SEMA has been awarded as the easiest Autonomous Underwater Vehicle to operate and to offer the widest range of acoustic training capabilities: acoustic echo-repeater (1 to 33 kHz); 5 bands for active sonar frequency; 2 bands for active homing torpedo; 6 narrowband (200 Hz to 38 kHz); 2 broadband (450 Hz to 8 kHz and 10 to 23 kHz) and to finish an acoustic recorder with data encryption.These acoustic features will allow both Dutch and Belgium Forces

Solar-powered USV Delivered to Mississippi State University

SeaTrac Systems, Inc. announced the sale and delivery of one of its SP-48 persistent uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) to a team at Mississippi State University’s (MSU) Geosystems Research Institute (GRI), in Starkville, Miss. GRI selected the SP-48 to support a research study funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study real time water quality monitoring and threat assessment of navigable waterways of the Gulf of Mexico region. GRI develops, operates, and maintains an increasingly integrated research and transition program, the results of which raise awareness and understanding of the Gulf

Beneath the Waves: Keep Your AUV Safe by Docking Subsea

Find out about ISEs experiences with getting its Explorer class AUV to dock autonomously during it’s recent sea trials.The atmosphere on the bridge of ISE’s vessel Researcher is tense. All mission checks are complete; conditions are optimum for docking; everything looks good. The vehicle, a 5-meter-long Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (or AUV), is on mission underwater. Updates from the AUV are now limited to acoustic chirps every 30 seconds and everyone is waiting anxiously. Will it succeed?Whenever an AUV is sent underwater to test new systems it is an exciting time, and for the

UK Navy Experimenting with New Autonomous Vessel

The British Royal Navy has taken delivery of a new autonomous vessel as the service examines the use of cutting-edge unmanned craft across a range of military operations including surveillance and force protection. The new vessel, named Madfox (short for maritime demonstrator for operational experimentation), was officially handed over to the Navy's experimentation innovator NavyX, who is working toward preparing the uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for a demanding year of testing at sea."With Madfox now directly in the hands of NavyX, the team will be able to explore a multitude of issues

Flight Control Tech Set to Dive Subsea

Decades worth of flight controls expertise is making its way subsea on board the U.K.’s next generation submarines.BAE Systems said it is adapting controls typically used in fly-by-wire aircraft and applying them in a marine environment for Dreadnought class subs. The complete Active Vehicle Control Management (AVCM) system will oversee all major aspects of the submarines’ maneuvering capability to the highest levels of safety and reliability, similar to existing systems on modern air transport platforms, the company said.Jon Tucker, Director for Maritime Controls at BAE Systems Controls

Seaspan Shipyards Begins Building Canada's New Research Ship

Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan Shipyards announced on Monday it has cut steel and started full-rate construction of the newest oceanographic science research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.The 88-meter Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) is being built under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) at Seaspan’s multi-program Vancouver Shipyard concurrently with the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) for the Royal Canadian Navy.The OOSV will support oceanographic, fishery, geological and hydrographic survey missions, replacing the CCGS Hudson due

US Navy Recovers Downed Helicopter from Record Ocean Depth

located and documented the wreckage using side-scan sonar and photographs of the helicopter as it lay on the ocean floor during North Pacific operations last spring.SUPSALV returned to the site this month at the request of the Navy Safety Center with CURV 21, a deep-water, remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) with the ability to meet deep ocean salvage requirements to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet.CURV 21 is a 6,400 pound ROV designed to meet the U.S. Navy's deep ocean salvage requirements down to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet of seawater. CURV was deployed in March 2021 to the North Pacific

GC Rieber Delivers Polar Queen to Schmidt Ocean Institute

Norwegian offshore vessel owner GC Rieber Shipping has delivered the Polar Queen vessel to new owners Schmidt Ocean Institute. The company announced the sale of the IMR vessel in February."The vessel has today been delivered to the new owner," GC Rieber Shipping said in a brief statement on Tuesday, without disclosing the name of the buyer. U.S.-based Schmidt Ocean Institute has said it acquired the vessel—now renamed Falkor (too)—for use as an oceanographic research ship.The Polar Queen is an IMR / walk-to-work vessel, built at Freire Shipyard in 2011. The gangway that was on

Two Injured in RRS Sir David Attenborough Lifeboat Drill

The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has opened an investigation into a lifeboat drill accident that injured two crew members from the new polar research ship RRS David Attenborough. The two crewmembers suffered minor injuries after a lifeboat rolled onto its side and fell overboard during a launching drill in Loch Buie, on Scotland's east coast, on March 5, the MAIB said.RRS Sir David Attenborough—still known to some as Boaty McBoatface, the top vote getter in an online poll to name the vessel in 2016—was built by U.K. shipbuilder Cammel Laird for owner Natural

RSS Sir David Attenborough Delivered to LR Class

Britain’s new polar research ship, the RSS Sir David Attenborough, has been formally presented with Lloyd's Register (LR) certification after a four-year-long construction period, the classification society said.The high-profile vessel, the U.K.’s largest commercial newbuild for over 30 years, was delivered to Natural Environment Research Council and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) by Cammell Laird Shipbuilders. BAS undertake vital research in the polar regions, leading in polar science and polar operations, addressing issues of global importance and helping society adapt to a changing

RRS James Clark Ross Makes Its Last Antarctic Call

It's the end of an era for the U.K.'s RRS James Clark Ross, which made its final call to Rothera Research Station in Antarctic on February 19 after 30 years of service. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said the polar research vessel will be sold at the end of the 2020/2021 Antarctic season and replaced by the newly built RRS Sir David Attenborough.Rothera was the RRS James Clark Ross’s final call of the ship’s five-and-a-half-month mission to deliver scientific and operational staff to Antarctica, and to resupply the U.K. stations in Antarctica for another year. Later this month the