U.S Navy has selected Blue Water Autonomy, a technology and shipbuilding company based in Boston, to conduct ocean floor mapping with the help of uncrewed surface vessels.
The US Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) decided to give the company a multi-year, indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity contract with a value of $40 million.
According to sources, the company, however, would compete for specific task orders with other contractors chosen for the project, which supports ocean survey missions.
These deep-sea surveys need vessels which can sail to thousands of nautical miles for long periods to collect information in the form of accurate and high-resolution seafloor maps, images, videos, and environmental data, including the type of terrain, and record changing ocean conditions which could influence future naval operations and so on.
These surveys, traditionally, have been carried out by crewed survey ships; however, they can cost thousands of dollars a day.
NAVOCEANO is planning to use uncrewed systems for these missions to increase precision, record more data and lower the costs, along with reducing
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
