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E-mail an Eel, Cuz NEPTUNE Brings Internet to the Sea Floor

by Amar Toor on December 10, 2009 at 01:40 PM

It's kinda embarrassing how little we humans know about the depths of the ocean. Scientists have a better idea of the contours of Mars than the layout of the sea floor. More people have been on the moon than in the deepest sea crevices. Hell, we're even more familiar with the depths of Mariah Carey's closet than we are of Earth's benthos. A new robot, though, is hoping to change all that, with the resource that saves us all -- the Internet.

Scientists believe that NEPTUNE, heralded as the world's largest Internet undersea science station, may revolutionize the way people study the deep sea. The network allows a fleet of undersea robots to dig around the ocean floor, conduct experiments, gather data, and then stream their findings directly to the Web. Until now, deep sea exploration has been a pain in the neck, since communicating efficiently and reliably with submersible robots required lots of manual labor -- either docking directly next to the craft to transmit data, or setting up radio-equipped buoys in the ocean. Now, though, armed with a 497-mile long fiber optic cable connection, NEPTUNE will allow marine biologists and scientists to sit back in their offices and watch as the data trickles into their computers.

Sounds cool to us. We just hope they're on the look out for those especially dangerous deep sea phishing scams! [From: Scientific American, via: PopSci]

Tags: deep sea, DeepSea, exploration, neptune, ocean, research, robots, science

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