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Underwater Robot to Re-Cross Gulf Stream
karvind writes "PhysOrg is running story about a small autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, named Spray which was launched yesterday (March 25, 2005) about 12 miles southeast of Bermuda. The two-meter-(6-foot)-long orange glider with a four-foot wingspan will slowly make its way northwest, crossing the Gulf Stream and reaching the continental shelf on the other side before turning around and heading back to Bermuda, where it will be recovered in July. Spray made history last fall as the first AUV to cross the Gulf Stream, but this time it is making the trip from the other direction."
Peace
I've often wondered how difficult it would be to build something like this that is solar powered (stays on the surface), has small simple engines, GPS and a satellite radio to call home every day or so. It would be slow but if nothing breaks it could in theory cross huge distances.
Would make a great competition! £20k for the first to cross the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland!
will track its progress and are able to communicate with the vehicle via satellite during the mission to change course
If they can change its course and affect its navigation, will they? I know it's not, but it almost seems to be bobbing around and riding the gulf stream to get to where it has to go.
It would be much more interesting to create a self propelled autonomous robot to swim upstream from the mouth of the ocean to a specific river or stream the same way fish return to spawn where they hatched, all without guidance. All it would know is where it has to go, but how it gets there it would have to be able to figure out on its own (avoid obstacles on its own, etc).
Yay, I can use my marine meteorology education:
A low pressure system developing off the southeastern United states will provide fresh to strong southwesterly winds for our little robot, ahead of an advancing cold front. Behind this frontal boundary, our little robot will have to work a little harder because he will be fighting some strong west to west-northwesterly winds. This is all within the next couple of days (obviously way before July).
Swells will generally be from the SE, maybe 3-5 increasing to 5-7 later in the week. So that makes combined seas 8-10 ocnl 14 increasing to 9-11 ocnl 15 ft. Good luck little robot!
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Can this thing be built as large as a supertanker, and then used to carry cargo back and forth, possibly with the ocean currents doing most of the work (and the up-down gliding locomotion for the rest)?
This would save quite a bit of fuel, though unloading cargo from what is essentially a submarine might be a bit trickier. Loading and unloading liquids only, like oil, should be no problem...
The vehicle has an amazing fuel efficiency!
The batteries have a capacity of 13 MJ. That is the energy content of about 300g of gasoline (for 45MJ/kg).
But the vehicle has a range of 4700km!
The tail is rigid but contains a wet portion with a cover on either side. In this wet section are a SeaBird CTD, a water pump, a backscatter sensor (for gorss biological counts), and two external oil bladders. At depth (~1000m) we pump oil from the internal reserves into these two external bladders. So yes you are right, unlike a submarine we ballast with a volume that is otherwise held inside the pressure case.
I see that the gliders are called "Spray," and "Slocum."
The people behind this project are obviously big fans of Joshua Slocum and his voyage aboard the Spray.
For those of you who don't know, around the end of the 19th century, Slocum, a lifelong mariner who found himself without a ship to command, rebuilt the derelict hull of a 30-foot fishing sailboat, christened her "Spray," and sailed her around the world alone.
He wrote a book about it called, strangely enough, "Sailing Alone Around the World." The book came out long enough ago that it has now passed into the public domain and can be read online in its entirety at, among other places:
http://www.arthur-ransome.org/ar/literary/slocum2. htm
My favorite line from Slocum's book:
"I had taken little advice from anyone, for I had a right to my own opinions in matters pertaining to the sea."
Later, Bernard Moitessier, a sort of French sailing hero (though he grew up in Indochina) sailed around alone, too. He had several boats throughout his life, and made many voyages. He named one of his boats "Joshua" after Joshua Slocum.
Moitessier wrote several books, all of which were translated into English.
MM
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While an application of this technology could be used to stealthly deliver narcotics from South America or WMD from who-knows-where. With a zero sonar fingerprint, a submarine glider drone would be tough to stop.
/ 2002214428_sub21.html/
And if you that was absurd, recently a WWII Japanese submarine that was orginally intended to carry plague rats to America was just found off of Hawaii.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld