ARTEMIS Ballast Dive

11/8/2015

By Peter Kimball

We had our third ARTEMIS dive last night and made excellent progress on ballasting. We had to make a few changes to the ARTEMIS configuration between our last tests in Texas and our first dives here in McMurdo Sound. As a result, we've had to adjust the number and locations of ballast weights in ARTEMIS to get it to sit level in the water. Bill dove beneath the ice to make some ballast adjustments last night. We hope to complete ballasting with some adjustments in the bot house today.

Here's a quick collection of clips form the GoPro we attached to Bill's dive helmet last night.

We use a large weight attached to the tail to hold ARTEMIS in a vertical orientation for deployment and recovery through the culvert. The end of the video shows Bill attaching the recovery weight before turning around and surfacing through the fish hut culvert. The yellow, red, and black tubes are Bill's surface air supply, communications, and pressure depth measurement.

ARTEMIS hangs in a vertical orientation with tail weight attached, ready for recovery. (photo: Bill Stone)

5 Comments

Pamela

11/9/2015 08:19:45 am

WOW!! Loved seeing this, although I held my breath the entire time!

Theresa

11/9/2015 01:01:05 pm

I can't get over how the ice forms on anything underwater. It looks like cotton candy.

Bob Kenworthy link

11/9/2015 01:07:02 pm

Way to go Bill & team! Best wishes for positive results and continued success! You guys rock!

Nancy Rodriguez

11/11/2015 03:06:40 pm

Hello everyone. I am a student at Central Az college. My questions are: Is there any life other than seals in the waters at McMurdo? What data did Artemis collect? What type of light and how strong is it to be able to light up in the dark night waters in freezing temperatures? How long are you guys going to be out there? What is the longest time Artemis is able to stay in the water? I think what you all are doing is wonderful! It amazes me how you all are willing to go to freezing unbearable temperature to do your research. I look forward to seeing what other pictures Artemis takes and what data and results you guys get. Have a wonderful day.

Justin

1/11/2016 07:41:11 am

Pretty wild seeing Bill descend through all the slush in the entry hole...

About the Blog

This is the personal blog of Peter Kimball and Evan Clark, following our deployment with the ARTEMIS long-range underwater robotic vehicle to explore beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Authors

Peter Kimball is an aerospace engineer and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.

Evan Clark is a computer scientist and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.

Kristof Richmond is a mechanical engineer and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.