Robot Submarine To Dive Deep In the Caribbean 99
Roland Piquepaille writes "According to BBC News, a new UK autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Autosub6000, will soon start to explore the world's deepest undersea volcanoes, located in the Caribbean. Autosub6000 has a range of up to 1,000 kilometers and has a maximum operating depth of 6,000 meters. It is 5.5 meters long, has a diameter of 0.9 meters, and is equipped with a high-performance GPS unit. For these two expeditions, each close to a month long, Autosub6000 will be joined by the Isis remotely operated vehicle, which is able to operate at a depth of 6,000 meters and grab animal specimens. Researchers from the National Oceanography Center in Southampton will lead these missions. They expect that 'one in every two animals they come across will be a species new to science' once the robots reach a depth of 3,000 meters."
Specifications for the submarine (PDF) are also available.
The GPS is only used on the surface (Score:4, Informative)
GPS will work down to a foot or so if you have the right antenna.
Re:GPS? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The GPS is only used on the surface (Score:3, Informative)
GPS will work down to a foot or so if you have the right antenna.
And sooner than later, deeper than a foot: Underwater GPS patent [slashdot.org]
Granted, will probably be used only for military applications, but would be quite cool to have one of those while scuba diving
Re:Why only 6000m? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:That isn't gps working underwater (Score:4, Informative)