Falmouth (Global Adventures): A $1.1 Million remotely controlled deep-sea robot was lost at sea off the coast of Chile, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) said in a press release. Scientists believe that the 15-year-old Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) may have suffered a catastrophic implosion. The vehicle was on its 222nd research dive at a depth of 1.86 miles (3,000 meters) when all communication with the surface vessel abruptly ceased. All efforts to reestablish contact failed.

The robot could survey wide swaths of undersea territory on dives lasting up to a day. "After a smooth launch, the dive began normally," scientists and engineers on the ABE team reported. "ABE actively homed to its assigned position, reached the seafloor, released its descent weights, and then leveled off to check its ballast. After this point, we received no more acoustic returns from the vehicle."

Enhanced over the years with multibeam sonar, Doppler navigation, and an anchoring system, which were funded by NOAA, ABE was pre-programmed to maintain a designated course but had enough decision-making capacity to avoid collisions with seafloor terrain. The robot was the first autonomous vehicle to make detailed maps of mid-ocean ridges and to locate hydrothermal vents.

ABE explored seamounts, undersea volcanoes, and other areas with harsh, rugged terrain and was used by scientist from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Italy, Ecuador, and most recently Chile. The loss was not related to the seismic activity in Chile, WHOI said.

Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

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