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Saildrone Autonomous Vehicle Maps Seafloor on Maiden Voyage

Saildrone Autonomous Vehicle Maps Seafloor on Maiden Voyage - top government contractors - best government contracting event

A Saildrone-built autonomous maritime vehicle mapped 6,400 square nautical miles of ocean floor during a 28-day proof of concept voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu.

The Surveyor unmanned surface platform traversed 2,250 nautical miles for its initial deep-ocean mapping mission, the company said Thursday.

A team of Saildrone, the University of New Hampshire and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute received a three-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in late 2019 to develop ocean exploration instruments for the wind-powered vehicle.

Surveyor employs a suite of sensors designed to perform underwater column interrogation and collects multibeam data for assessment by UNH researchers.

The California-based autonomous vehicle builder seeks to map the entirety of the planet’s oceans over the next decade using its 72-foot platform.

Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO, said the company is aiming to bring the technology to the shipbuilding market for defense and homeland security applications.

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Written by Nichols Martin

a staff writer at Executive Mosaic, produces articles on the federal government's technology and business interests. The coverage of these articles include government contracting, cybersecurity, information technology, health care and national security.

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