A Scientific Vessel

The Nautilus is certainly not the ship for a relaxing vacation. It is a working, scientific vessel.
The E/V Nautilus is built for efficiency. The ship itself is 211 feet long; the stern and bow take up the majority of the space. Rooms are very small, (the size of a mini van) and are shared with up to 4 people. This is not a big problem because the only thing rooms are used for are sleeping and changing. Most of the time on the ship is spent either in the control van on watch, or relaxing in the lounge or mess hall.

Hercules (pictured above) is one of the ROVs (or remote operated vehicles) on the ship.  Hercules is equipped with over half a dozen cameras, including one HD bubble camera. Hercules also has thrusters on several sides for above average mobility under water. In addition, he is also equipped with 2 "arms".  Predator, one of the arms, is more agile and precise. It is used for picking up samples, or gently moving something out of the way. Mongo, the other arm, is very strong and is used mainly to do "power lifting". It can exude thousands of pounds in force. 

Argus (above) has very similar abilities as Hercules, however; does not have robotic arms. Hercules and Argus are linked together via a daisy chain. This yellow chord not only links the two robots together, but also streams data and controls to and from the control van. 


It is currently about 9 o'clock P.M. local time. We just pulled up Hercules and Argus after 3 samples were taken from the bottom of the Black Sea. Now, Diana (the side-scan sonar fish), is back in the water looking for new targets to explore! 


Keep listening in at Nautilus Live and send in your questions!
       KJ