A made-in-BC underwater drone is getting its first real deep-sea mission this week in the waters off Vancouver Island’s west coast.
Ocean Networks Canada is headed out to do annual maintenance and inspections on the NEPTUNE array, an underwater observatory made up of a network of fiber-optic cables and monitoring stations. The array, managed by the University of Victoria, gathers information used in multiple scientific fields, including tracking climate change and helping with early warnings for earthquakes and tsunamis.
The new drone, built by CANPAC Marine, is purpose-built for science and features 11 high resolution cameras, 300,000 lumens of light, and better controls than other similar machines.
The expedition is being streamed live online and runs until October 12, you can watch it live through the Ocean Networks website.
