In recent years, laser technology has played an increasingly important role in the field of marine exploration and measurement. When lasers meet ocean research and exploration, what will happen?
On May 19, 2023, Impossible Sensing, a deep-sea technology startup focused on optical sensors and edge analysis, joined a team of scientists and engineers from the SETI Institute, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory and other institutions on board the Ocean Exploration Trust's Nautilus The InVADER Mission's Laser Divebot, also known as Laser Divebot, was successfully delivered to the deep waters around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust's Nautilus expedition vessel.
The expedition, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Ocean Exploration and Research through the Ocean Exploration Partnership Institute, marks the first time a high-tech laser laboratory has been integrated into ROV underwater operations for in situ sensing and analysis, a true paradigm shift in ocean research and exploration - scientists will no longer need to collect samples and transport them to the lab for weeks to get results. "Invader will be ready in just a few hours, with no impact on the environment.
The Intruder mission, which is still underway, represents an in situ vent analysis submersible robot for outer space biology research, designed to advance technologies originally developed to explore the ocean world and characterize the Earth's seabed. "The laser dive robots used on the Intruder mission are designed to characterize the seafloor in real time, faster and more economically than ever before.
Using laser spectroscopy, the laser dive robot is able to collect high-fidelity compositional data, including rock, sediment, water column and biological samples. The technology, first deployed on a mobile ROV, is designed to advance in-situ sensing, ultimately obviating the need to collect physical samples as the first autonomous solution that can make measurements while in motion.
"Measuring sediment and water composition without disturbing the marine environment is a top priority for the community," emphasized Dr. Leonardo Macelloni, associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Marine Science and Engineering and one of the project's principal investigators, "and we are very pleased with the first results of the laser diving robots are very exciting and they have potential for future exploration missions."
During the first test dive, the laser diving robot measured the organic content of the water column from surface to bottom. During ROV sampling, it also found minerals and organic pigments in rocks and sediments at a depth of 1,500 meters, none of which were physically sampled. These first successfully conducted surveys herald a new era in oceanography.
The habitat found in the unexplored deep-water waters around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll is the ideal place to test this groundbreaking technology. It is one of the most remote and least explored areas on Earth, and these waters contain some of the most pristine marine ecosystems on the planet.
Funding for the development and testing of the Intruder mission laser diving robot was provided by NASA, NOAA through the University of Southern Mississippi and the Cooperative Institute for Marine Exploration and the Ocean Minerals Program of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, according to the report.
