Survey ship at sea 22 days, with no crew
This crewless ship sailed for 22 days
Location: Off the coast of England
surveying the seabed of the mid-Atlantic Ridge
The 39-foot-long Maxlimer
was controlled around the clock
by satellite communications
from its developers remotely
(SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMIE McMICHAEL-PHILLIPS, SEABED 2030 SAYING:
“The uncrewed vessel, as you can see behind me, is operating in Plymouth Sound yet it is being controlled in an ops room based in Essex, so the other side of the United Kingdom. Absolutely amazing.”
The vessel has mapped over
386 square miles of ocean floor
since late July
(SOUNDBITE) (English) SEA-KIT DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY, PETER WALKER, SAYING: “To have this technology and to get a picture of what’s under the sea is amazing and to do it uncrewed, it’s leading on to a much greener world where we don’t have to risk seafarers' lives. We can still keep seafarers in their job but just have them on the shoreside and this project completely proved that is totally possible.”