Hydraulic System

Pan and Tilts

Lights

Navigation

Cameras

Syntactic Foam

Thrusters

ROV Jason In 2015 and 2016, ROV Jason underwent a $2.4 million upgrade funded by the National Science Foundation. Click on the buttons to learn more about the vehicle’s features.

Manipulators

Sample Basket

Swing Arms

Syntactic Form Carefully formed blocks of syntactic foam, a material made of hollow glass spheres embedded in an epoxy resin, provide Jason’s buoyancy. This material does not change shape under extreme pressure and provides a secure mounting surface for lights, cameras, and other components.

Thrusters Jason has six electric thrusters, each providing 250 pounds (113 Newtons) of thrust.

Navigation Jason uses Doppler velocity log (DVL) for dead reckoning and ultra-short baseline (USBL) for general vehicle navigation. When using dead reckoning, Jason employs its closed-loop control to make very accurate position moves (as small as one centimeter).

Hydraulic System A hydraulic pump provides pressure to operate ten functions independently.

Swing Arms Jason has two hydraulically powered swing arms for sample collection and tool storage.

Sample Basket A hydraulically powered sample basket moves in and out to hold samples, sampling devices, and mount tools.

Manipulators Jason’s hydraulically powered robotic arms can lift 300 pounds when fully extended and provide six degrees of freedom for great dexterity and versatility.

Pan and Tilts Four electrically driven pan and tilts make it easy to move cameras or lights independently in any direction.

Lights More than a dozen LED lights on Jason’s lightbar illuminate the front of the vehicle, while others on the back and underside provide lighting up, behind, and below.

Cameras One ultra-high-definition camera and two high-definition cameras are mounted up front to capture photographs and video of the working area. Jason also has a variety of small “utility cameras” for piloting the vehicle and monitoring its subsystems.