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Deep-ocean diving robot Nereus is gone and won't be replaced
Last year, the only robot capable of diving into and exploring the deepest ocean trenches (the hadal zone) perished on the job, and now its creators have announced that it will not be replaced. That robot was called Nereus: a hybrid ROV that could either operate autonomously or be controlled remotely by scientists, built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It was unique, because it could move and explore hadal zones (parts of the ocean 20,000 feet and below) freely, while the other robots called landers that can reach those depths are designed to sink to the bottom to collect data until they're retrieved. Unfortunately, Nereus imploded in the Pacific Ocean in 2014 due to unknown reasons -- after all, there's no other robot capable of looking for its debris.
Adidas uses plastic ocean waste to create a 3D-printed shoe
Back in June, Adidas revealed a shoe made almost entirely from recycled ocean waste. That product marked the beginning of a partnership between the sportswear firm and Parley, an organization trying to combat ocean pollution worldwide. Now, Adidas is taking this one step further: its new design features a 3D-printed midsole created out of recycled polyester and gillnets, a wall of netting typically used to catch fish. The shoe's upper part was manufactured with ocean plastic materials as well, Adidas says, making its concept footwear a complete eco-friendly package.
Saturn's moon Enceladus has a global, water-based ocean
Scientists have suspected for a while that Saturn's moon Enceladus has a giant water ocean, and they now have some hard evidence to support their theories. Thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, NASA has discovered a "very slight wobble" in the moon that can only be explained by a global ocean that lets the icy crust move. Think of it like shaking an egg -- the changes in Enceladus' speed during orbit make its surface (the shell) shift around its rocky core (the yolk).
Google's latest science camp for kids starts on July 13th
If you want your kids to learn something while they're out of school but would rather not ship them to some distant summer camp, Google is about to come to your rescue. It's kicking off the latest edition of its annual Camp Google on July 13th, and this year's virtual educational event promises themed weeks that might just sate your young ones' curiosity on big scientific subjects. They'll learn what the ocean is like through underwater panoramas, for example, and watch live video chats with astronauts. The whole shebang is free, so it won't hurt to tune in if you want your children to go back to school knowing more than they did when they left.
Floating robots will find out what keeps the Indian Ocean healthy
Believe it or not, scientists don't know a lot about how the Indian Ocean works. Without many samples, researchers are frequently left in the dark about the ways that fish, plankton and other aquatic life flourishes in the area. That won't be a challenge for much longer, though. Australia's national science agency is launching a fleet of BioArgo robots that will measure both the biological and physical traits of the ocean to learn what makes it healthy. Much like the Argo machines studying Arctic waters, they'll float deep underwater (nearly 6,600 feet) and drift with the current. They'll usually need to surface only when they're transmitting their findings. Combined with satellite imagery, the BioArgo drones should give researchers a true "3-dimensional picture" of the Indian Ocean -- important when a sixth of the human population depends on this sea for basics like food and transportation.
MIT gave exploring robots a way to plan underwater missions
Forget those teensy deep-sea submersibles cradling crews of brave scientists -- the future of underwater exploration might be led by robots that can do their own thing. MIT engineers, led by professor Brian Williams, cooked up a system that lets autonomous underwater drones figure out and act on the nitty-gritty details of their missions without the need for meticulously laid-out plans.
Mars once had enough water to form a large ocean
You probably know that Mars hasn't always been so barren, but have you wondered what it was like in its heyday? You almost wouldn't recognize it, according to an international team of scientists. They've used six years of atmospheric monitoring to determine that Mars had enough water to form a big but shallow (one mile deep) ocean that covered almost half of the northern hemisphere four billion years ago. The artist's rendition above gives you an idea of what it might have looked like -- the Red Planet would have been decidedly blue in places.
Virgin Oceanic pauses its deep sea exploration plans
If you were hoping to see Virgin Oceanic visit the deepest parts of Earth's oceans, you'll have to put those dreams on hold. The company has confirmed that it's at least temporarily dropping plans to make five dives using its DeepFlight Challenger craft. Virgin isn't saying just what prompted the decision, but founder Sir Richard Branson alluded to a cancellation in August. He stressed the importance of "knowing when to change tack" and that Virgin Oceanic was "widening its focus" to work on more accessible ocean exploration. In short, DeepFlight wasn't panning out.
The Big Picture: Satellite imagery details ocean depths with new maps
Harnessing data from two satellites, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have built a new map of the deepest parts of the ocean. Combining info from the European Space Agency's (ESA) CryoSat-2 and gravity readings from NASA's Jason-1 with existing research, the team is able to show details that include undersea mountains and "little-studied remote ocean basins." The project's report explains that "one of the most important uses of this new marine gravity field will be to improve the estimates of seafloor depth in the 80 percent of the oceans that remains uncharted or is buried beneath thick sediment." Still curious? Peruse more the findings here.
Catching waves with Rip Curl's SearchGPS surf watch
"Track every wave and know every tide." That's the concept behind Rip Curl's SearchGPS, a location-tracking wristwear that combines your typical fitness-tracking features with a waterproof, wave-counting watch for surfers. The final hardware will arrive in black and white color options this October for $400, but we managed to get our hands on a pre-production unit just in time for a little summer fun.
Norrathian Notebook: Jump in, the water's fine in Landmark!
The drought has finally ended: Water has come to the parched shores of Landmark. After a day of torturing fans with some not-so-subtle teasing on Twitter involving beach songs, links to life vests, and musings on slow garden hoses, SOE Director of Development Dave Georgeson finally outright admitted that the first phase of water was indeed headed into the game. And as of yesterday's update, the long-anticipated liquid is a permanent part of the landscape. No more shall players stare off over the edge of their islands, eyes skipping over the sand whilst seeking just a hint of moisture. No longer must the faithful beta testers dream of the day the sun's rays would reflect off the rolling waves. Oceans are here! And while there's no need to grab a towel on your way to the beach (you can't actually get in the water), players are still rejoicing. Why? Because it finally feels like beta, baby!
Fleet of underwater gliders could improve global weather forecasts
While our entire climate model is based on the world's ocean currents, there's a surprising lack of detailed measurements of their movements. Researchers from Rutgers and elsewhere want to rectify that with the Challenger Glider Mission, which will launch 16 unpowered, autonomous submarines later this month. As with past adventures, the 7-foot-long craft will ply deep currents across 80,000 square miles in five ocean basins, using buoyancy changes and fins for propulsion and navigation. From there they'll transmit real-time current, temperature and salinity data to the Iridium satellite network. Combined with other observational methods, that could help scientists refine current climate models and improve forecasting. Researchers will also gauge the health of our planet's oceans using phytoplankton measurements -- definitely a hot-button issue at the moment.
Researchers looking to submerge WiFi, drive demand for Google SnorkBooks
How to begin a new pitch about your underwater networking technology? You could start by comparing existing offerings to a "frightened toddler," seeing as how both parties share an inherent desire to stay above the waves. A research team at the University at Buffalo, however, is far less afraid to gets its collective feet wet (due in part, we assume, to the fact that timid toddlers are generally shunned by research universities), showing off an acoustic wave-based technology that could be used to send signals to laptops, smartphones and the like, from bodies of water. That information, in turn, could be used to monitor tsunamis and pollution, help with oil exploration and check out the status of marine life. The team has already tested the technology at Lake Erie and is set to show things off in more detail next month in Taiwan.
Bing Maps revamped with ocean topography, updated satellite imagery
Ballmer and Co. have loaded up Bing Maps with yet another batch of images, and though they're staying quiet about the update's file size this time, they say it includes 13,799,276 square kilometers of fresh high-res satellite shots and a better view of the ocean floor. Brand-new "straight down" photos give the base map a resolution of 15 meters per pixel, and the introduction of bathymetric imagery changes the ocean's hue depending on its depth. The refresh even contains fewer clouds, giving users a less obstructed view of Earth. Thanks to additional aerial photos covering 203,271 square kilometers, Microsoft's map service now covers the entirety of the US and 90 percent of Western Europe with pictures taken from aircraft. Armchair cartographers ready to explore the world remotely can find the revamped visuals already baked into Bing Maps online and within the service's Windows 8 app.
DARPA unveils plans for undersea payloads that surface on command
DARPA already intends to set a drone ship out to sea, and now it's revealed plans for undersea payloads that lie dormant for years and launch themselves to the surface when remotely commanded. Dubbed Upward Falling Payloads, the containers will carry non-lethal cargo such as small UAVs or networking hardware, and take advantage of the "cheap stealth" their position underwater grants them. Since the vision is to have a fleet of UFPs spread throughout ocean floors, it'll help the Navy "get close to the areas we need to affect, or become widely distributed without delay," according to DARPA Program Manager Andy Coon. DARPA is aiming to tap engineering talent from telecom companies to the oil exploration industry in order to solve challenges such as communications used to wake up payload nodes and launching them to the surface. There's no word on when UFPs will begin lurking sea floors, but DARPA is already looking for proposals to help build them. [Image credit: Alwbutler, Flickr]
Liquid Robotics' Wave Glider breaks Guinness record, does it in the name of science
Last fall, four autonomous Wave Gliders set out from San Francisco Bay to begin a two-fold mission: gather data about the oceans' depths and break records. The vessels, crafted by ocean data services provider Liquid Robotics, were launched in pairs, with one set headed for Australia and the other, Japan. Now one year later, the first of this fuel-less flotilla -- dubbed Papa Mau -- has completed its intended journey, reaching the land of Oz this past November 20th and beating out the remaining three Gliders at sea (one of which malfunctioned and had to be pulled from the water). As the PacX project's team is quick to point out, the culmination of this record-breaking 9,000 mile trek was less about gaining a Guinness entry and more about generating publicity for the mass of hitherto unrecorded oceanic information. But though the initial run of the project is currently winding down, the outfit's SVP of Product Management Graham Hine expects further trips to Antarctica, the poles and the Northwest passage will follow at some point in the future. Without a doubt, the whole experiment's a master class in using the power of PR for the greater good, while giving marine biologists a treasure trove of useful data. Check out the source below for an expanded look at the project's roots and be sure to skip past the break for a video of the vessel's retrieval.
Scientists estimate at least one third of marine species remain unknown to humans
It's been said that we know more about space than we do about our own ocean, and now a group of scientists have quantified what sea creatures we may still not know of. After compiling an open access, online database of known marine species with the help of more than 270 experts, researchers estimate that the briny depths may be home to a total of one million species, with one third of them potentially remaining entirely unknown. Of the grand total, humans have described roughly 226,000 -- more than 20,00 of which in the past decade -- with another 65,000 tucked away in collections awaiting a write-up. Since previous estimates have been based on rates of species identification and other factors, these latest figures are considered more accurate. The effort's researchers hope that this data will be used as a reference for extinction rates and conservation. Hit the first source link below to dig through the compendium, aptly-named the World Register of Marine Species, for yourself. [Image credit: NOAA's National Ocean Service, Flickr]
Google Street View gets its first underwater panoramic images, ready for desk-based scuba expeditions (video)
After working on its sea legs for some time, Google Street View is ready to take users on virtual scuba expeditions through six living coral reefs with the first underwater panoramic images to hit the service. In partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey, Mountain View created the on-rails snorkeling experiences using undersea pictures from Heron, Lady Elliot and Wilson Islands at the Great Barrier Reef, Molokini Crater and Hanauma Bay in Hawaii and the Apo Islands in the Philippines. Combined with views from Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, the new underwater tours might make for a respectable, desk-based vacation. Interested in paddling through the briny depths? Head past the break for a short preview or hit the source links below to dive right in.
Amazon's Bezos finds Apollo 11 rocket engines in ocean, contemplates shipping options
Ya' know, there's nothing like a little rocket engine hunting to save oneself from the doldrums of generating billions of dollars in revenue in the private sector. At least that appears to be the case for Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who spearheaded an ocean expedition to find the F-1 engines used in the Apollo 11 mission. Forget newer stuff like the GENIE, Vega and Slytherin's SuperDraco -- the classic F-1 is still the rocket engine that ignites Bezos' proverbial liquid fuel. Having found his prize resting 14,000 feet below the surface via deep sea sonar, Bezos' team is now trying to recover at least one of the engines. Bezos says NASA still retains ownership of the F-1s but he's hoping the agency will allow one of them to be displayed at the Museum of Flight in Amazon's home turf of Seattle if both are successfully retrieved. No word on whether the rocket engines will be delivered via Super Saver Shipping.
Swimming robots break wave-powered distance record, don't even stop for high-fives
Remember those autonomous sea-faring robots we saw back in November? Well, it looks like their self-propelling paddles have slowly waded them into the record books. The bots have traveled a distance of 3,200 nautical miles (2,876 land miles), cutting the previous record of 2,500 adrift -- not bad considering there's no fuel involved. The quartet of data-hunting droids initially set off from San Francisco, before completing the first leg of their journey in Hawaii four months later. The quadrumvirate are now set to split, with two heading off to Japan, crossing the Mariana Trench (believed to be the deepest place on earth) while the other pair head south to Australia, with both duos aiming to reach their final destinations later this year.
