ASVs to seek Amelia Earhart's aeroplane

摘要

A TEAM OF researchers, led by US marine archaeologist Robert Ballard. is setting out to answer questions around the disappearance of famed pilot Amelia Earhart during her round-the-world flight attempt in 1937. Portchester's ASV Global manufactured an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) with The University of New Hampshire's (UNH) Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping to explore the seafloor in waters that are too deep for divers. The ASV, known as BEN (the Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator), will allow Ballard's crew to map the seafloor in the shallow areas adjacent to the island from which Earhart sent her last radio transmission. This area is too deep for divers and too shallow for safe navigation by the scientific vessel, Nautilus, to use its deep-water sonar systems. Maps of the ocean floor produced by BEN will be used to target dives with remotely operated vehicles (ROV) in the search for remnants of the plane.