CAMPER

The CAMera samPlER, or "Camper" is a large sampling sled that will be towed by a research ship and lowered to the seafloor for collecting samples from the Arctic Ocean bottom. About the size of a sport utility vehicle, CAMPER is equipped with lights, a navigation system, chemical sensors,
a video camera, and devices for quickly grabbing samples a claw for grabbing hard samples such as rocks or clams, and a “slurp gun” that can vacuum in fluids or shrimp. The vehicle is
positioned primarily by moving the ship, although the engineers can “drive” CAMPER in a small area using thrusters. The samples are of critical importance to biologists, who will use the DNA from the creatures they find to trace their origins.