Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Spray: First Underwater Autonomous Vehicle To Cross Gulf Stream
A small self-propelled ocean glider named Spray is the first underwater autonomous vehicle (UAV) to cross the Gulf Stream underwater.
(From Spray Autonomous Underwater Vehicle)
The six-foot-long glider was launched from a point about 100 miles south of Nantucket Island, Mass. on September 11 of this year. It traveled slowly at an average speed of about 12 miles per day and was recovered last week just north of Bermuda. It has no outside moving parts - at all. It moves forward by using battery-powered hydraulic pumps to vary its air volume by a few hundred cubic centimeters (using oil-filled bladders); this generates the buoyancy changes that power its forward gliding (see path diagram below).
(From Spray Autonomous Underwater Vehicle)
The batteries also power on-board instruments to measure temperature, salinity, pressure and the turbidity of the water (a measure that relates to biological productivity). Spray records its surface position at each point; it rolls 90 degrees to allow the GPS antenna embedded in the right wingtip to gather that data. Every seven hours it spends fifteen minutes on the surface to send data back to scientists Breck Owens from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Russ Davis and Jeff Sherman of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, using the satellite phone in its left wing.
(From Spray Autonomous Underwater Vehicle)
Spray is capable of maintaining its course autonomously, but operators on shore can send new commands to change course or alter the data gathering parameters at any time. "The key," said Davis, "is that Spray can stay at sea for months at relatively low cost, allowing us to observe large-scale changes under the ocean surface that might otherwise go unobserved."
Spray has a potential range of up to 3,500 miles - it could someday cross the Atlantic Ocean or explore other ocean basins. "We envision having fleets of gliders in operation in a few years," Owens said. "It could change the very nature of the kinds of questions we can ask about how the ocean works."
Future missions planned for 2005 include a round trip from Woods Hole, Mass to Bermuda; an Acoustic Doppler current Profiler will be used to give vertical profiles of current speed and velocity. Other sensors could be added to measure dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, alkalinity and nutrients in the ocean water.
"Oceanographic gliders are now at the stage similar to the start of aviation," Sherman said. Today's autonomous buoyancy-driven vehicles owe their existence to a visionary article published in 1989 by Henry Stommel.
Technovelgy readers may recall a recent story about the Subjugator underwater robot, a student-built competitive robot that resembled the Flying Sub from the popular 1960's science fiction show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Read more about spray at Spray Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and Spray home page.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/6/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...' - Philip K. Dick, 1955.
'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.' - Schachner and Zagat, 1931.
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...' - Schachner/Zagat, 1931
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
18 Wheels Mutant Centipede Vehicle
'If a centipede were a dinosaur and made of metal to boot...'
Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.'
Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.'
That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'
'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'
Missing Jet Finally Found
Ah, what could have been - still in the future.
Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
