World's Most Advanced Autonomous Research Vehicle Completes Ocean Crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii
PR90544
HONOLULU, July 9, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --
The uncrewed, autonomous, Saildrone Surveyor will arrive in Hawaii today after
a groundbreaking maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu.
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1560420/Saildrone_Surveyor.jpg
While ocean crossings are nothing new for Saildrone's autonomous surface
vehicles, the Saildrone Surveyor is a new, much larger class of vehicle
optimized for deep-ocean mapping. During the 28-day voyage, the Saildrone
Surveyor sailed 2,250 nautical miles and mapped 6,400 square nautical miles of
seafloor.
Using renewable wind and solar energy for its primary power source, the
Saildrone Surveyor is the only vehicle in the world capable of long-endurance,
uncrewed ocean mapping operations. The valuable data it collects will help
address issues impacting our world including climate change, offshore renewable
energy, natural resource management, and maritime safety.
Measuring 72 feet long (22 m) and weighing 14 tons, the Saildrone Surveyor
carries a sophisticated array of acoustic instruments, normally carried by
large, manned survey ships. The Surveyor's sensors interrogate the water column
looking at underwater ecosystems and map the seafloor in high resolution to a
depth of 23,000 feet (7,000 m).
Multibeam data from the Saildrone Surveyor has been calibrated and assessed by
an external team from the University of New Hampshire (UNH), which normally
calibrates large government survey vessels. "The data quality from the Surveyor
is of very high quality, as good as anything we have seen from a ship," said
Larry Mayer, director for the UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM).
"Due to the wind-powered nature of the vehicle, it is very quiet, and this
enables the very accurate acoustic measurements needed to map to these depths."
The ocean covers more than 70% of the planet, but over 80% remains unmapped and
unexplored. The lack of ocean exploration is largely due to the high cost of
access to our oceans, which has traditionally been undertaken by large ships.
These ships can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and hundreds of
thousands of dollars per day to operate. The Saildrone Surveyor represents a
paradigm shift in the cost of ocean access, performing the same job as a survey
ship, but at a fraction of the cost and carbon footprint.
"This successful maiden voyage marks a revolution in our ability to understand
our planet," said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO. "We have solved
the challenge of reliable long-range, large-payload remote maritime operations.
Offshore survey can now be accomplished without a large ship and crew; this
completely changes operational economics for our customers. Based on this
achievement, I am excited to apply Saildrone Surveyor technology to other
markets normally reserved for large ships, such as homeland security and
defense applications. The implications of a low-carbon solution to these
critical maritime missions are significant."
With this successful proof of concept voyage, Saildrone, Inc. of California,
will now build a fleet of Surveyors to be manufactured at US shipyards.
Saildrone intends to map the entire earth's oceans in the next 10 years.
About Saildrone (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3222018-1&h=4085293978&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saildrone.com%2F&a=About+Saildrone)
Saildrone is a US small business that designs, manufactures, and operates a
fleet of the world's most capable, proven, and trusted uncrewed surface
vehicles (USVs). Predominantly powered by wind and solar, Saildrone USVs have a
minimal carbon footprint and are equipped with advanced sensors and ML
technology to deliver critical data and intelligence from any ocean, at any
time of year. Solutions include maritime domain awareness, ocean data, and
ocean mapping. Saildrone operations and data collection services are encrypted
and secure.
Click for images/b-roll (https://saildrone.mediavalet.com/portals/saildrone-surveyor-completes-ocean-crossing-san-francisco-hawaii).
Contact
Susan Ryan
Vice President Marketing
(314) 914-5008
susan.ryan@saildrone.com
SOURCE Saildrone, Inc.
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