Image of the Day

March 11, 2010

Farewell ABE

The Autonomous Benthic Explorer, affectionately known as ABE, was one of the first successful submersible vehicles that was both unmanned and untethered to surface ships. First launched in 1995, ABE helped to herald a new kind of deep-submergence vehicle — the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) — and revolutionized deep-sea exploration by expanding scientists’ abilities to reach into the deep. Unfortunately, the pioneering deep-sea exploration robot was lost at sea on March 5, 2010, during a research expedition off the coast of Chile. Learn more about ABE’s history and last mission.

(Photo by Eben Franks, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)