Oceanic Satellite

Well just from looking at the images that Bull posted , i would say a little less than almost EVERYTHING else a ship hits!...it looks like its made from a composite so i would say that its probably lighter than a log or ice or floating debris of any kind! As far as getting sued back to the stone age , i am thinking that is why you have insurance!... oh i know...who is going to insure this? Most insurance companies...lol So lets get back to advancing the design...this IS boat design...not, lets be an attorney for a day forum!

 

Is this bad science?

All of the possible legal ramifications aside, is this just bad science? It would seem to me that this device does not measure open ocean characteristics, but the local environment around a ship - with all of its effluents, anti-fouling, exhaust, cooling water discharge, etc. that come with an ocean-going vessel.

Regards,

Don MacPherson
HydroComp

 

I'm just thinking what would it be like if I happened to find a cockroach-like spying device which has attached itself randomly to my car's door while I was slowing down to engage an intersection...
I would probably smash it with a hammer untill it's confirmed death (for security reasons - self defence from an alien object) and then I would go to a nearest police station to report an intrusion into my privacy, a damaging of my personal property and a deliberate endagering of road traffic safety by an unknown party.
Very soon the said "unknown party" would get a name and a nice postcard from my lawyer and would then pay a hefty bill.
Translate that to your situation and draw your own conclusions.

 

Research

The Ocean is huge and we know so little about it. It would be great if we had a satellite system to mimic the one above us (which often drop craft near us and into the sea spilling isotopes aplenty). The funding for oceans is weak at best and the scope is large, this idea is controversial, but benign. I would welcome a poll to various shipping interest to see if they would volunteer any ship as the tow. But it must be unknown exactly which ship since we are also monitoring ship borne pollution. If its a responsible shipping co, they should welcome it and promote the effort. But, as we see here, everyones a lawyer today and I think it would wind up still-born. Here is something worthwhile to view, its mostly about deep sea life but her argument rings true for my own "kludged" together idea...

http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_glowing_life_in_an_underwater_world.html

Note her comments around 13 minutes into video..

 

The base behind your idea might be noble indeed, but you need to do it with the consent from all interested parties. Unless it is a military project or is sponsored by some intelligence agency - we know they don't ask for permits when they want to intrude into other's business. But then it might not be such a noble idea...

And an uncontrollable device drifting across the shipping routes is unacceptable from the safety point of view, imho. A big ship would maybe suffer no major damages should they collide with it, but think about smaller vessels smashing against it...

 

I must admit I only read the first page but has the autonomous fish developed by MIT bean mentioned yet
it seems that there technology might be a big help to your project and that by attaching to passing ships it might save a lot of energy enabling the system to operate for extended periods
basically it sounds like a great idea and although Im sure you will have your share of naysayers the opportunity to develop more data faster is always worth exploring

best of luck
B

 

Coverage

Here is a cool map I found of ship tracks, what a comprehensive network for a research effort..

 

What a great map!

It will help my venture in which I catch your robo-remora and add some extras to interfere with or intercept warship communications. I assume you'd be happy with that because I'd just be hoboing on your vessel while yours is hoboing on theirs.

All the best,
Leo.

 

Go for it Leo, just don't make your hobo bigger than 1/1000th the size of my 6' long satellite and don't ask for scheduling assistance to glom-on. Don't think I would be looking to go on military ships as their routes are not regularly announced like trade ship, but you can try. Like I said who can police the open seas? I think this is a start for some unbiased research.

 

Im sure the military already has these things anyway

hell they learned how to remotely steer a cockroach 30 years ago



this one aught to be the poster child for the SPCA



thing is I'll take this idea of an autonomous robotic sucker fish over using a live specimen any day

I say go man go
hell if you program this thing to crawl to the place of least resistance it would probably end up saving these shippers money