R/V David Packard to Sport Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 USBL

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) selected Sonardyne's deepwater positioning tech for 50-m long R/V David Packard, its new scientific flagship.

Named in honor of MBARI’s founder, David Packard, the vessel is being built to undertake a diverse range of missions in Monterey Bay and beyond, supporting the institute’s mission to advance marine science and technology to understand a changing ocean.  

Once operational, the ship will accommodate up to 18 researchers and will enable MBARI’s continued exploration of the deep sea, from the midnight zone to the abyssal seafloor. The R/V David Packard will be the command center for the ROV Doc Ricketts, MBARI’s deep-diving remotely operated vehicle. The new research vessel will also be capable of deploying a variety of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

Underpinning this deep-water capability will be Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) system, with an HPT 7000 transceiver, which will be integrated into the vessel via a Sonardyne deployment machine.

Ranger 2 provides researchers with flexibility with its capability to track and communicate simultaneously with multiple scientific instruments, vehicles or towed platforms, at ranges up to 10,000 m. With Ranger 2, operations from seafloor geodesy through to AUV survey missions are supported, anywhere in the ocean.

The ship, designed by Glosten, is being built at the Freire Shipyard in Vigo, Spain.