Deep-sea exploits - part 2
The Marianas Trench has become a hive of activity recently. Here is an update (mostly) on the activities of the Russian expedition with Vityaz-D last month and also the recent expedition with the first woman to go down into the deepest abyss. A quick peek is also provided on China's turn in sending an UUV expedition to the Mariana Trench.
A. Update on Vityaz-D
The deep-diving feat of Vityaz-D and the first manned dives were outlined in a previous blog article "Subsea exploits and delving into the deepest trench".
The announcements made relating to Vityaz-D weren't accompanied by images or video taken from the expedition itself because that bit was saved for a 2-part special feature programme on Zvezda News.
Рубиновый «Витязь» в Марианской впадине». Часть 2. «Гидрокосмос»
«Военная приемка» продолжает рассказ о первом в истории успешном погружении автоматического неуправляемого подводного аппарата в самую глубокую точку мирового океана - Марианскую впадину. pic.twitter.com/WSizIDl6py
- zvezdanews (@zvezdanews) June 12, 2020
A couple of days previously, in-depth articles appeared in the Russian media with a bit more detail and interviews about oceanographical aspects of the expedition as well technical aspects of deploying the UAV. As explained by the Deputy Director General of the Foundation for Advanced Studies (FAS), Igor Denisov, there were 2 dives, the first from May 8 to May 9 and 2nd from May 10 to May 13. The dives were originally planned for 2019, but canceled due to bad weather at the time. The mother ship, 'Fotiy Krylov' was modified in order to accommodate the complete system.
Click to viewThe main aim of the expedition was to carry out checks of the technology when operating at extreme depths. After a ten hours submersion, the pre-installed mission programme was activated once the AUV was at the bottom on a 3-hour AI-operated 'flightpath'. Vitayz-D made its way 3m above the sea bottom for one and half hours in one direction at a speed of two meters per second. It then made a180 degree turn, climbed 30 meters and went in the opposite direction. Then it took about four to five hours to reach the surface. Although it is stated that the AUV can operate autonomously 24 hours a day, this aspects was not mentioned regarding the tests in the Mariana Trench. The batteries are recharged on board the mother vessel.
The AUV itself is a modular design and during the Mariana Trench dives, it had equipment for measuring physical environmental parameters such as external temperature, pressure and electrical conductivity of water. Additionally, there is lighting equipment, photo and video equipment and of course: side scan sonar. Using its own onboard inertial navigation system, control and information processing unit, which allowed it to use AI for obstacle avoidance.
The 2nd part of the system is the bottom station pod which is a beacon repeater that helps the AUV to navigate on the bottom. Hydroacoustic data and information input for the first dives were obtained from scientific literature. Although deployed, the pod wasn't useful due to the scientific data and as such a connection between the AUV and the mother ship 'Fotiy Krylov' was used instead.
Given the modular design principle, additional equipment can be installed on the Vityaz-D platform depending on the user's needs. In fact, now we are talking about creating a platform. "In time, there will be more efficient devices, more efficient lighting, locators, more efficient means of soil sampling". Thus, Vityaz-D can be adapted for types of missions.
Judging from the interview given to TASS, it seems that some sort of commercial use is envisaged for the AUV in the long-term. Likely customers could range from seabed mining research expeditions, carrying out seabed surveying and monitoring, safety work related to pipe-laying and seabed monitoring.
Equally, Vityaz-D may have some practical application regarding deep sea search and locating objects, (submarines for examples) which is inaccessible to divers. Although, in the short-term, there are 2 direct customers the Russian Academy of Sciences and the MoD. Unsurpringly, since the in-depth interview with Igor Denisov on 8 June was released, Vityaz-D was been transferred over to the MoD.
Igor Denisov, also discussed the next big FPI project after "Vityaz":
" We are talking about creating a submersible with an autonomy of about three months, which does not use a nuclear power plant - the 'Sarma' project. It will use the same specifications as the control experiment: to go along Russian Federation coastal water, with a long-range endurance. Essentially along Chelyuskin's route [1], but only under water. The Sarma project is very complex both in organizational and technical terms. We are leading it in stages. The next stage is the development of work and design documentation, which will be completed in the near future. The Lazurite Design Bureau heads the 'Sarma' project.
[1] Either referring to the 18th century polar explorer Chelyuskin or the ship named after him that attempted to transit the Northern Sea Route in 1934.
Only a 5th of the world's oceans is mapped, so the use of UUVs would be extremely beneficial in increasing this figure considerably, in terms of coverage but also accuracy, especially in the Arctic and even more importantly in the Russian Arctic. Vityaz-D could likely be the impetus for more accurate bathymetric mapping along the Northern Sea Route, which is needed given the continued increase in traffic and the plans in place to substantially increase cargo volumes shipped along it. This explains why Igor Denisov mentioned Chelyuskin's route in particular. As outlined previously, seabed mapping is also a military domain, a key element of the 21st century undersea 'battle space', in this case, mapping done by a type of AUV like Vityaz would provide detailed data for the Russian 'Harmony' undersea/seabed sonar monitoring system.
GEBCO 2019 World Bathymetry map
B. The first woman to reach the deepest point on planet Earth
The first woman has reached Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench on World Oceans Day, on 6 June onboard the submersible 'Limiting Factor'. The achievement by Dr. Kathy Sullivan, an oceanographer and ex-NASA astronaut, spans 36 years from being in space on ISS to diving to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.
One of our goals with this dive series was to bring more people to the bottom of the ocean. We’re still reeling from the excitement of our dive with @astroKDS, now the first woman to visit #ChallengerDeep. See a video recap of the history-making mission here. pic.twitter.com/6H8FSikqie
- CaladanOceanic (@CaladanOceanic) June 10, 2020
This first was followed shortly by the 2nd woman, part of the same expedition: Vanessa O’Brien. The first to climb the highest mountain and now also reached the ocean depths. This was followed by another dive with the son of Lt Don Walsh who made the first ever manned dive in 1960 in 'Trieste', to record the first dive 60 years on.
C. China's turn in the Mariana Trench
China's counterparts to the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) deployed its latest UUV submersible, 'Haidou-1' onboard the research vessel 'Tansuo-1', to the Mariana Trench and in doing so set the country's deep-sea diving record by submerging 10,907 meters on 14 May. The expedition left on April 23 and returned to Liaoning on 8 June. Similarly to what the Russian team did, "researchers tested high-precision depth detection, machine hand operation, acoustic detection and positioning, and high-definition video transmission". The AUV also collected samples and took high-definition images of the geological environment of the Mariana Trench.