Deep-sea Mission Research Articles

Comparative Study of Buoy-Actuated Energy-Harvesting Devices for Submersible Sensors

AbstractContinuous electrical power supplies are crucial for the success of deep-sea missions given the need for power to energize sensors, actuators, or light sources to monitor activities in deep...

A dynamic human reliability assessment approach for manned submersibles using PMV-CREAM

Safety is always acritical focus of exploration of ocean resources, and it is well recognized that human factor is one of the major causes of accidents and breakdowns. Our research developed a dynamic human reliability assessment approach, Predicted Mean Vote-Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (PMV-CREAM), that is applicable to monitoring the cognitive reliability of oceanauts during deep-sea missions. Taking into account the difficult and variable operating environment of manned submersibles, this paper analyzed the cognitive actions of oceanauts during the various procedures required by deep-sea missions, and calculated the PMV index using human factors and dynamic environmental data. The Cognitive Failure Probabilities (CFP) were calculated using the extended CREAM approach. Finally, the CFP were corrected using the PMV index. This PMV-CREAM hybrid model can be utilized to avoid human error in deep-sea research, thereby preventing injury and loss of life during undersea work. This paper verified the method with “Jiaolong” manned submersible 7,000 m dive test. The“Jiaolong” oceanauts CR(Corrected CFP) is dynamic from 3.0615E-3 to 4.2948E-3, the CR caused by the environment is 1.2333E-3. The result shown the PMV-CREAM method could describe the dynamic human reliability of manned submersible caused by thermal environment.

A seismic-network mission proposal as an example for modular robotic lunar exploration missions

In this paper it is intended to discuss an approach to reduce design costs for subsequent missions by introducing modularity, commonality and multi-mission capability and thereby reuse of mission individual investments into the design of lunar exploration infrastructural systems. The presented approach has been developed within the German Helmholtz-Alliance on Robotic Exploration of Extreme Environments (ROBEX), a research alliance bringing together deep-sea and space research to jointly develop technologies and investigate problems for the exploration of highly inaccessible terrain – be it in the deep sea and polar regions or on the Moon and other planets. Although overall costs are much smaller for deep sea missions as compared to lunar missions, a lot can be learned from modularity approaches in deep sea research infrastructure design, which allows a high operational flexibility in the planning phase of a mission as well as during its implementation. The research presented here is based on a review of existing modular solutions in Earth orbiting satellites as well as science and exploration systems. This is followed by an investigation of lunar exploration scenarios from which we derive requirements for a multi-mission modular architecture. After analyzing possible options, an approach using a bus modular architecture for dedicated subsystems is presented. The approach is based on exchangeable modules e.g. incorporating instruments, which are added to the baseline system platform according to the demands of the specific scenario. It will be described in more detail, including arising problems e.g. in the power or thermal domain. Finally, technological building blocks to put the architecture into practical use will be described more in detail.

A deep sea mission to seek out new lab animals

A deep sea mission to seek out new lab animals

A Rough Night's Work: A Story of the Deep Sea Mission on the Labrador

A Rough Night's Work: A Story of the Deep Sea Mission on the Labrador