There’s a lot to explore under the sea, which is why a deep-sea rover is off on its own for five years or so to find out a little more about what’s down there.
It’s called the Intrepid Benthic Rover II, and it comes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
It’s the size of a small car, with cameras and sensors and tire treads on the bottom so it doesn’t get stuck in place and a reinforced frame that can withstand deep-sea water pressure and avoid corrosion.
Its main job is to study how oxygen and carbon dioxide levels may be changing down there due to climate change.
And to do that it has to do most of its work autonomously, since radio waves don’t travel well in water.
Every few months scientists will release a special water gliding device that can track the rover’s location, send it a message, pick up its data and send the findings to a satellite, where the researchers can get them.
And hopefully the glider can talk some sense back into the rover if it starts to get weird down there and starts making plans to turn against humans or something.
Or: I look forward to seeing the robot’s Netflix documentary about its special friendship with an octopus.
There’s a new book called “A Library of Misremembered Books,” in which artist Marina Luz paints the covers of books where people are trying to describe a book when they can’t remember the title.
Like “Ice Was In The Title,” or “Insane Husband Burns Down House,” or… “Looking For A Book. It’s Red.”
By the way, thanks for listening to… podcast about weird things, but also interesting stuff. Some guy hosts it.
This deep-sea rover will autonomously explore the mysterious abyss for over five years (designboom)
‘A Library of Misremembered Books’ Is a Witty, Illustrated Compendium of Mistaken Titles (Colossal)
Screenshot of video on Intrepid Benthic Rover II by MBARI