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Tag: ROVs

“We’re in the midst of a sea change in who has access to the core tools of marine scientific research,” Weekly Salvage: November 11, 2019

Posted on November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Transcript available below.

Read More ““We’re in the midst of a sea change in who has access to the core tools of marine scientific research,” Weekly Salvage: November 11, 2019″ »

Mining historic shipwrecks for lead and other old things from the bottom of the sea. Also, Robots! Weekly Salvage: November 4, 2019

Posted on November 4, 2019November 4, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Transcript available below.

Read More “Mining historic shipwrecks for lead and other old things from the bottom of the sea. Also, Robots! Weekly Salvage: November 4, 2019” »

The rise of low-cost ROVs and community submersibles

Posted on September 20, 2018 By Andrew Thaler
Open Science, Science

The following appeared this Monday on the DSM Observer, the only trade journal committed to covering all aspects of the emerging deep-sea mining industry. Though written for the deep-sea mining community, the subject is broadly relevant to a host of ocean industries, so we reprint it below. 


The submarine Noctiluca cruises across the surface. Photo Courtesy Shanee Stopnitzky.
The submarine Noctiluca cruises across the surface. Photo Courtesy Shanee Stopnitzky.

As a community, we discuss mining, management, and monitoring, as well as the regulations that shape them, in terms of governments, major corporations, and research institutions. The deep-sea mining community is small and the complexities of working at abyssal depths engenders collaboration, cooperation, and, in the case of exploitation, compromise. While there are many stakeholders potentially affected by deep-sea mining, only a small proportion of them will ever directly engage with the deep seafloor.

A few extremely wealthy individuals have access to private submersibles and ROVs and have on occasion made them available for research and exploration, but they are the exception. The tools necessary to reach the depths of a hydrothermal vent or polymetallic nodule field are simply too expensive.

That may soon change.

Read More “The rise of low-cost ROVs and community submersibles” »

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