Category: Challenger Mission (Page 9 of 37)

After a  long night of steaming out to the deployment location roughly 150 miles off shore of Ubatuba, Marcelo Dottori and a team from the University of Sao Paulo deployed RU29 at 5:46 this morning just past the 900m isobath.

After roughly a six month hiatus during which RU29’s hulls were brought back to the US to be replaced, Scott and Chip traveled down to Ubatuba towards the end of May to put the glider back together and run some initial tests while the glider was on land.  Then Marcelo and his crew prepared for a window of opportunity where they could safely get out to the deployment site and remain on location until a number test dives could be done to make sure Challenger was flying well before turning back to shore.  Dave was then able to run the deployment while remotely contacting Marcelo and controlling the glider from New Jersey.

So far the glider looks to be flying well and is 6 hrs in to a 9 hr mission to 1000m  during which she will complete 3 full dives.  Tomorrow we will update everyone further as we get more information back from our team

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Hey Guys

just a quick update as we head into the Thanksgiving festivities- Challenger was picked up off of the Brazilian coast by a team from the University Sao Paulo aboard the Alpha Delfini earlier this evening.  The operation was coordinated by David Aragon back at Rutgers and Marcelo Dottori from the lab at the University of Sao Paulo.

In the coming days, our friends in Brazil will work with Dave remotely as the glider is opened and the search for the cause of the leak commences.

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After roughly a day and a half at sea, Challenger reported back with one of the worst messages possible (second to no contact at all that is): an abort triggered by the leak detect.

Similar to the previous deployment in July out of Santos, RU29’s leak detect mechanism was triggered at depth resulting in the glider returning back to the surface to report on the matter.  David Aragon then spent a significant amount of time running tests on the glider resulting in the decision to turn the glider back towards shore.

29 will now spend the weekend weaving her way back to the North West, where early next week a team will depart from the University of Sao Paulo, recover the glider, and report back to us on the gliders condition so we can than make further plans from there.  But we will have more on that next week as the events transpire.

On another note, the images from the deployment of RU29 and USP03 are now online! Below are a select few but the full set can be viewed on our flickr page

Marcelo Dottori (U. Sao Paulo), Antonio Godoi (U. Sao Paulo), David Aragon (Rutgers), Chip Haldeman (Rutgers), Maisa Santos (Brazilian Navy), Scott Glenn (Rutgers), RU29 and USP03 in front of the Instituto Oceanografico, University Sao Paulo

Close up of USP03

RU29 completing a test dive

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As of 7:10am EST, Challenger is back on board the Alpha Delfino and is headed back to Santos once more.  Upon first light, the team, including our friend Marcelo Dottori were on location preparing for recovery.  Then after an hour and 40 minutes, they were able to pull her on board.

Once back on land, 29 will be transported back to the University of Sao Paulo facilities where she will wait for about a week until Dave can get back down to Brazil, diagnose the issues that lead to the leak, and hopefully get her back in the water.

Once again, great job team!

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As Marcelo and his team prepare to leave port once more, the team at RUCOOL continues to maneuver 29  towards the shores of Brazil.

The ship will set sail around 8pm tonight (7pm EST) and head south east towards the potential recovery location of 24˚55’S 45˚50’W.  This location however is not fixed and is reliant on the progress 29 makes through the night as she continues up the shallowing slope towards land.

Checking Marine Traffic, it looks like we are in a relatively safe area, far from any heavily trafficked areas.

Good luck to the team down in Brazil on the recovery!

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After a very rough ride out, the team managed to deploy Challenger last friday along the shelf break of the Southern Brazil Bight

Unfortunately, after the deployment the glider ran into a number of issues.  First of which being a software bug that we failed to catch and apply the fix to which prevented the glider’s iridium phone from calling back to the lab at Rutgers. The second being that on a dive to 1,000m, the glider suffered a minor leak which we believe was caused by the pressure at depth.

So now this hour of urgency, we have shifted the way point back towards land as 29 fights the Brazil Current and shipping traffic in preparation for recovery.  The latest plan is for our friends in Brazil to get back on a boat and sail out wednesday or thursday depending on weather to pull her back out of the water.  We will update with the latest details as they come in

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as of 11:27am EST RU29: Challenger is back in the water flying a 300m test mission.  If all goes well as Dave runs various tests, we will give 29 her first way point on her mission to go back across the South Atlantic Gyre to Cape Town South Africa

Great Work Team!

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Yesterday afternoon the team rejoiced as the final preparations for Challenger’s deployment were capped with a celebration.

Drs Frederico Brandini and Marcelo Dottori of the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) hosted a pre-deployment celebration aboard the Alpha Delfino that included a number of members of USP, the deployment team and the media.

Later that night the ship left port in Santos for a 10 hour steam to the shelf break where 29 will deployed in deep water as to try and conserve as much battery power as possible.

Reports from the field are that the seas a very rough, so the deployment will take place from the side of the boat instead of deploying from the zodiac.  Divers will most likely stay on board as well unless the conditions calm down significantly

Good luck out there guys!

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