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Boaty McBoatface To Go On Its First Antarctic Mission (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A small yellow robot submarine, called Boaty McBoatface after a competition to name a new polar research ship backfired, is being sent on its first Antarctic mission. Boaty, which has arguably one of the most famous names in recent maritime history, is a new type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which will be able to travel under ice, reach depths of 6,000 meters, and transmit the data it collects to researchers via a radio link. Its mission will be to investigate water flow and turbulence in the dark depths of the Orkney Passage, a 3.5km deep region of the Southern Ocean. The data it collects will help scientists understand how the ocean is responding to global warming. Boaty will travel with the DynOPO (Dynamics of the Orkney Passage Outflow) expedition on the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research ship James Clark Ross, departing from Punta Arenas in Chile on 17 March. The craft will be sent back and forth through a cold abyssal current that forms an important part of the global circulation of ocean water. In 2019 Boaty McBoatface will be fitted with acoustic and chemical sensors and sent into the North Sea to "sniff out" signals associated with the artificial release of gas beneath the seabed. A future aim for Boaty will be to attempt the first-ever crossing of the Arctic Ocean under ice, which has the potential to deliver a significant change in scientists' ability to observe change in this vital region.
It should have been Ahmad Ibn Majid's Fantasy Sub
Another recent example of a democratic election gone horribly wrong.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
It's a name that was picked by the process they used. It isn't derogatory or offensive. Silly yes, but it's not a substantive part of the mission, just the moniker. It garnered a lot of attention when it was being voted and now people know what it is. That PR is great for such an expedition. Don't get your panties all twisted because something silly won. Embrace it.
From the summary: ...Called Boaty McBoatface after a competition to name a new polar research ship backfired...
Boaty, which has arguably one of the most famous names in recent maritime history...
How did the competition backfire?
Crossing the Artic Ocean under ice was previously done in 1958 by the USS Nautilus
That is a matter of (editorial ) opinion
Like an arab is going to figure out how to build a sub.
with the fire of a thousand suns.
Glad to see Boaty Mc Boatface in the news at last. I still can't help think that:
"...reach depths of 6,000 meters, and transmit the data it collects to researchers via a radio link."
this sort of technology (if it existed) would be much more newsworthy though.
I was a big fan of naming that waste dump in Austin - The Fred Durst Society for the Humanities and The Arts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Many people often have the urge to name boats a variety of silly and/or obscene joke names, but it is cautioned, extensively, to all wanna-be recreational mariners, "Do you really want to have to say that name over the radio, for example in a distress call?"
It makes many people rethink things a bit.
AC
The continued arrogance of the elitist snobs against a name that most people simply found found, continues to astound me.
If you like, that choice of the people for lighthearted sanity instead of hrumpfing stodgidity was the earliest indication that Trump would win the election here.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It thought the mini submarine was merely named "Boaty" and not "Boaty McBoatface". The mini sub is typically hauled around by the main ship that was the original target of the naming campaign
That's double confusing in that it's a submarine, NOT a boat, and second many expected the main ship to have that name.
They blew it big time, the merchandising and tourist revenue on the ship wouldda been yuuuuuge.
Table-ized A.I.
It resembles the one the Chinese recently intercepted, and then later returned.
If the Chinese capture it, they can rename it, "Finders McKeepersface".
Table-ized A.I.
You mean like the nuclear sub USS Nautilus did in 1958? Or is that too long ago to count?
I think the name is brilliant, who isn't going to follow the adventures of Boaty McBoatface?
it could be worse.. Americans could have voted on it
have crossed the Arctic Ocean under ice, for example: http://www.history.com/this-da...
"But what many people may not realise is that there is actually more than one Boaty. The name covers a trio of vehicles in the new Autosub Long Range class of underwater robots developed at Southampton's National Oceanography Centre (NOC)."
Three? My extensive research of Scottish culture left me under the impression that there can be only one!
I hope this doesn't invalidate the authenticity of my traditional Clan McBoatface tartan kilt.
saying that the competition backfired.. just means he doesn't like the name... everyone else did and voted for it.. what a sore looser. Boaty McBoatface is a fun name for such a vessel and it uproots the stuffy wankers who work in the science fields.