Greensea IQ, a leader in ocean robotics technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to provide greater diversity of access and accelerate scientific innovation and discovery in the ocean. This operational collaboration with WHOI’s Deep Submergence Laboratory (DSL) and the National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF), hosted at WHOI, combines Greensea IQ’s class-leading expertise in navigation, robotics, remote operations, and user interface systems with WHOI’s outstanding reputation as a world leader in deep-sea exploration capabilities and expertise in the design and construction of underwater systems for scientific research. The partnership will create scalable systems to support a wide range of oceanographic research, increasing access to the deep ocean. In addition, technologies and systems developed under this partnership will focus on improving operational efficiency, increasing compatibility with existing systems, and creating and supporting the tele-operation of ROVs.

Babcock International’s Rosyth shipyard has been awarded £45 million to maintain the UK’s fleet of scientific research vessels, including the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) operated RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook.

A multidisciplinary team of scientists from Mexico and the U.S. discovered new hydrothermal vents and six possible new animal species during a 33-day expedition off the coast of La Paz on Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor. The underwater robot ROV SuBastian was used to explore and sample vents emitting fluids at temperatures up to 287°C (549°F) along with the unique animal communities inhabiting this extreme environment. ROV SuBastian additionally captured stunning imagery of the seafloor including hydrothermal mirror pools, calcite spires, and iridescent blue scale worms.

The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), a global aquatic research, data management and partnership platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Canada, has upgraded their remotely operated vehicle to a 1000-metre rated Saab Seaeye Falcon DR.

Two young engineers will soon be attempting a 250 kilometer crossing of the English channel in a pedal powered submarine. The two friends, Antoine Delafargue and Michael de Lagarde, are passionate about technical challenges, exploration, and sustainable management of natural resources. Their plan is to travel from Plymouth, England to Saint-Malo, France just a few meters above the sea floor in their human powered sub equipped with variety of observation instruments. The two pilots will provide propulsion through pedals attached to a crankshaft which is connected to a drive train that turns the sub’s propeller. The sealed hull is constructed of wood, fiberglass and a resin composite and has many of the features found on full a size submarine including ballast tanks, CO2 scrubbers, bow thrusters, and a sonar. The sub also has a number of safety features such as an emergency buoy and an acoustic pinger. The pinger will allow a surface vessel to track the sub throughout it’s journey.