The Strytan Hydrothermal Field (SHF) in basaltic terrain in Iceland is one of the extant alkaline submarine hydrothermal vent systems favoured as analogues for where life on Earth may have […]
ROVs/Submersibles/Diving
Comb Jelly Adaptations To Life At Extreme Pressure
The bottom of the ocean is not hospitable: there is no light; the temperature is freezing cold; and the pressure of all the water above will literally crush you. The […]
Ice Planet Update: The Dawn Of Earth’s Antarctic Ice Sheets
For the first time, researchers, including from British Antarctic Survey, have combined unique geological samples with sophisticated modelling to provide surprising insights into when and where today’s East and West […]
Away Team Droid Tech: Towards Automated Sample Collection and Return in Extreme Underwater Environments
In this report, we present the system design, operational strategy, and results of coordinated multi-vehicle field demonstrations of autonomous marine robotic technologies in search-for-life missions within the Pacific shelf margin […]
Ice Planet Update: Landing A Droid On The Antarctic Seabed – Formation Of Antarctica’s Ice Sheet
In recent years global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice sheets. The “eternal” ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, particularly in West Antarctica more […]
Away Team Deep-Sea Datasets: Long-Term Visual Localization Of The Eiffel Tower Hydrothermal Vent
Visual localization plays an important role in the positioning and navigation of robotics systems within previously visited environments.
Away Team Droid Tech: Human-Robot Interface for Teleoperated Robotized Planetary Sample Collection and Assembly
As human space exploration evolves toward longer voyages farther from our home planet, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) becomes increasingly important. Haptic teleoperations are one of the technologies by which such […]
Ice Planet Update: Digital Twin Of RRS Discovery Shows How Antarctic Research Began
A project led by the University of Southampton has created a ‘digital twin’ of RRS Discovery – the pioneering research vessel that first took explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest […]
Away Team Droid Tech: Robotic Planning Under Uncertainty in Spatiotemporal Environments in Expeditionary Science
In the expeditionary sciences, spatiotemporally varying environments — hydrothermal plumes, algal blooms, lava flows, or animal migrations — are ubiquitous. Mobile robots are uniquely well-suited to study these dynamic, mesoscale […]
AwayTeam Tech: Distributed Instruments for Planetary Surface Science: Scientific Opportunities and Technology Feasibility
In this paper, we assess the scientific promise and technology feasibility of distributed instruments for planetary science. A distributed instrument is an instrument designed to collect spatially and temporally correlated […]
