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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (78401)	6/16/2010 11:48:02 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

<<...BTW, how many ROVs does the navy have? Oh, slightly less than zero...>> Wood Hole Oceanographic Institute has ROV's that can dive much deeper than 6,000 feet and they offered their expertise to the U.S. government and BP during week one of the disaster (but BP said they were not needed)...wouldn't our government want to get a totally independent perspective on what's happening.??..Trust but verify what BP is telling you about the worst oil well blowout in U.S. history...fyi... whoi.edu <<...Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are mobile observation platforms for imaging, mapping, and sampling the deep ocean environment. ROVs allow researchers to make observations, collect rocks and animals and conduct experiments remotely, through the use of a fiber optic cable from the ship to the vehicle on the seafloor. These sophisticated, tethered robots are driven and manipulated in a manner not too different from driving a remote controlled car. The value of ROVs comes from their ability to reach great depths (WHOI's Jason2 ROV can dive to 6500 m depth) and stay there for extended periods (unlike human occupied vehicles, which have to surface every eight hours). This endurance gives researchers the flexibility to react to unexpected events and spend more time in seafloor environments. Though ROVs cannot replace the human eye and instinct, they are much-better suited to the critical work of mapping and surveying the seafloor. They can also serve in pioneering and prospecting missions, like the probes that visited the Moon before the Apollo astronauts...>> ___________________ ***Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is one of the true experts on deep water observation...one of their subs went to below 35,000 feet last year... en.wikinews.org <<...Thursday, June 4, 2009 -- On Sunday, May 31, Nereus dove into the Pacific Ocean and began its descent into Challenger Deep the deepest area of the Mariana Trench. A Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) remotely operated vehicle touched down 10,902 meters (35,767 feet) in the Mariana Trench near the island of Guam. "It's the deepest known part of the ocean. The trench is virtually unexplored, and I am absolutely certain Nereus will enable new discoveries," said Andy Bowen, project manager of WHOI, "Reaching such extreme depths is the pinnacle of technical challenges. The team is pleased that Nereus has been successful in reaching the very bottom of the ocean to return imagery and samples from such a hostile world. With a robot like Nereus we can now explore anywhere in the ocean. The trenches are virtually unexplored, and Nereus will enable new discoveries there. Nereus marks the start of a new era in ocean exploration."...>>

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (78401)	6/17/2010 12:16:23 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

Maybe we should do a little human observation down near BP's out of control oil well site in the Gulf of Mexico...Woods Hole and the Navy do have a sub that can take humans down over 14,000 feet below the surface of the ocean...fyi... whoi.edu <<...WHOI operates the U.S. Navy-owned Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin for the national oceanographic community. Built in 1964 as one of the world’s first deep-ocean submersibles, Alvin has made more than 4,400 dives. It can reach nearly 63 percent of the global ocean floor. The sub's most famous exploits include locating a lost hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean Sea in 1966, exploring the first known hydrothermal vent sites in the 1970s, and surveying the wreck of RMS Titanic in 1986. Alvin carries two scientists and a pilot as deep as 4,500 meters (about three miles) and each dive lasts six to ten hours. Using six reversible thrusters, Alvin can hover, maneuver in rugged topography, or rest on the sea floor. Diving and surfacing is done by simple gravity and buoyancy—water ballast and expendable steel weights sink the sub, and that extra weight is dropped when the researchers need to rise back up to the surface. The sub is equipped with still and video cameras, and scientists can also view the environment through three 30-centimeter (12-inch) viewports. Because there is no light in the deep, the submersible must carry quartz iodide and metal halide lights to illuminate the seafloor. Alvin has two robotic arms that can manipulate instruments, and its basket can carry up to 680 kilograms (1,500 pounds) of tools and seafloor samples. Though it is the world’s oldest research submersible, Alvin remains state-of-the-art due to numerous reconstructions made over the years. (For instance, a new robotic arm was installed in 2006.) The sub is completely disassembled every three to five years so engineers can inspect every last bolt, filter, pump, valve, circuit, tube, wire, light, and battery—all of which have been replaced at least once in the sub’s lifetime. The sub is named for Allyn Vine, a WHOI engineer and geophysicist who helped pioneer deep submergence research and technology...>>