Vehicles

The Deep Submergence Laboratory builds and operates a variety of underwater vehicles. Below is a list of vehicles that are currently in development or being operated by the lab.

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)

ROV Jason/Medea
Jason is a remote-controlled deep-diving vehicle that gives shipboard scientists immediate, real-time access to the sea floor.
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Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV)

Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV) Nereus
Currently in development, Nereus will operate in two modes; as an autonomous, or free-swimming, vehicle for wide area surveys and as a tethered, or cabled, vehicle for sampling and other tasks.
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Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

AUV ABE/Sentry
The Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) is a robotic underwater vehicle used for exploring the ocean to depths of 4,500 meters (14,764 feet).
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AUV Jaguar
Jaguar was designed to hover in place—like a helicopter or hummingbird—and collect photographs and high-resolution sonar maps of deep ocean vent sites.
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AUV Puma
Also known as the "plume mapper," the Puma autonomous underwater vehicle uses sonar, lasers, and chemical sensors to search wide areas near the ocean floor and detect the telltale temperature, chemical, or particulate signals from hydrothermal vent plumes.
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AUV SeaBed
SeaBED is an AUV that can fly slowly or hover over the seafloor to depths of 6,000 feet (2,000 meters), making it particularly suited to collect highly detailed sonar and optical images of the seafloor.
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Last updated: May 21, 2008