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Antarctic Undersea ROV 09

Michelle, Are you ready??? How will you get there- through New Zealand? My robotics team really liked the posts last year with Stacy and the SCINI crew. Any new modifications to it ? It will be so awesome, like another world! Safe travels, lollie

Fri, 10/23/2009 - 04:28

Michele Cross

Hi Lollie!!
"Am I ready"....you're a funny woman!! LOL!! I'm getting closer but still have MUCH to do. Hope to put a huge dent in it over the next 3 days. I've already started to make my piles so as to keep things straight. I'm taking Lindsay's advice to heart: don't wait until the night before to pack!
 In terms of the team posting, yes! They are posting to the Project website. Check out the Daily Slog at http://scini2009.mlml.calstate.edu      
My flight plan...Elmira Corning Regional Airport to Detroit then LAX. LAX to Sydney, Australia then on to ChCh, NZ. I miss Oct 30th all together! This should be interesting because I'm one of these, "Are we there yet?" people.
Thanks for following, and think of us while you enjoy the warmth!
Michele   

Thu, 11/05/2009 - 19:33

Stacy Kim

Hi Lollie,
SCINI has a couple of new modifications this year.  Most exciting (to me), she now has two cameras.  Her forward looking eye can tilt up and down (like last year) and is mostly used by the pilot to get information for flying.  The new camera is downward looking, and lets us see the seafloor directly beneath us.  This gives a straight perspective insteady of the skewed view you get from looking forward, so I can see how large animals are and how they are distributed relative to each other.  This data helps me figure out how the seafloor community functions as an ecological unit.
SCINI can also go deeper, to 300 m. At least, that is what the engineering calculations say.  We will be testing this in the real world later on.
SCINI also has a lot of improved software that makes her easier to pilot, like power curves so that she accelerates smoothly and a more intuitive layout of piloting and science data readouts.
Best, Stacy