Project Deepsearch: An Innovative Solution for Accessing the Oceans

Abstract

The year 2010 marks the 50 th anniversary of the first and only manned visit to the deepest part of the sea. Over the past 50 years, even as technology has advanced with breathtaking speed, there have been very few changes or advances in applying new technology to manned (human-occupied) vehicles for deep sea exploration. Today there are only a handful of deep research submersibles and all, with the exception of the Chinese Harmony 7000, are aging assets. None are capable of exploring all areas of the ocean. Project Deepsearch is being undertaken by a small business working under the premise of a collaborative open source effort. Our goals are to bring innovative solutions to bear in five key areas of engineering and technology while engaging industry contributors and the public, enhancing awareness of the importance of the oceans, marine science and education.

A preliminary design of a movable laboratory for hadal trenches

“…1 shows a simple illustration of the basic components. Taylor and Lawson (2009) proposed an even more expensive system. The support ship should be one with Dynamic Positioning level II or better, with a full suite of deep-water assets: autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for broad survey work, multi-beam for basic mapping, deep-water remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for ground truthing and providing real-time video to the surface, and two deep-water manned submersibles.…”

“…This is achieved by changing the center of gravity and by using power assist. The vehicle can stop at any point along the way to adjust buoyancy and attitude and can open the clear Perspex to extend lights, cameras, and manipulators for work before continuing the dive (Taylor and Lawson, 2009). For this FOD HOV, how to increase significantly the descent and ascent rates to ensure the bottom time of operation is a critical issue to be solved.…”

“…The ''Deepsearch'' strategy is to make the personnel sphere positionable for comfort and then to use a combination of thrust, movable trim mass, and a variable buoyancy system (VBS) to pitch nose down, moving at up to 6 knots through the water column to the working depth (Taylor and Lawson, 2009). This is achieved by changing the center of gravity and by using power assist.…”

“…By considering these requirements and current available technology (Hawkes, 2009;Taylor and Lawson, 2009), a preliminary concept design of this HOV is shown in Fig. 2.…”

On 7,000 m Sea Trials of the Manned Submersible Jiaolong

“…One is to significantly reduce the running costs, making manned submersibles comparable with unmanned submersibles in this aspect (Hawkes, 2009). The other is to miniaturize the in-cabin facilities, making a more comfortable in-cabin environment (Taylor & Lawson, 2009). As for environmental protection, this mainly relies on longer-use mercury as the substance to adjust the trim, or the substance used in the emergency jettison system.…”