[NASA] New Energy Source Powers Subsea Robots Indefinitely

[SpaceMan 0]

2 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

NASA’s Aquarius instrument aboard the ****** U.S. and Argentinian Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas mapped the surface salinity of Earth’s oceans between 2011 and 2014. To calibrate the instrument, a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including project scientist Yi Chao, had to distribute robotic floats across oceans. The experience helped inspire Chao’s invention of an inexhaustible power source for ocean floats and sensors.

Credit: NASA

No one has mapped more territory than NASA. The agency not only charts stars and other planets but also maps Earth from orbit. Now a NASA invention could let robots map our planet’s entire seafloor, helping to unlock resources while protecting habitats. The sonar devices for such an operation are not new, but they’re hampered by battery limitations.

As an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Yi Chao learned about those limitations firsthand. He worked on studying the ocean from space and was the project scientist for the Aquarius satellite mission measuring ocean salinity. The satellite’s instruments were calibrated with sensors that had to be distributed across the oceans. He found that a major constraint to monitoring oceans is the battery life of subsurface sensors, which can’t rely on solar energy. When their batteries ****, they’re either left ***** in the water or recharged by ship at great expense.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Two of Seatrec’s SL1 modules are attached to a robotic float. The modules generate power from changes in volume undergone by phase-change materials as the float rises from colder deep water to warmer surface water. By adding a second module, the operator doubles the available energy.

Credit: Seatrec

With two JPL colleagues, Chao set out to design a solution. The power modules they developed are based on what’s known as a phase-change material, in this case a paraffin-family substance with a melting point about 50°F – between typical deep-ocean and surface temperatures. As a device rises to the surface to transmit data, the material melts and expands, turning a motor that charges the battery. It’s the same concept as a steam engine, but changing from solid to liquid brings about a 10% expansion, so the trick was to make the device efficient enough to operate on that tiny bit of energy.

Chao then licensed the invention and founded Seatrec Inc. of Vista, California. The company sells its SL1 power module to research labs, universities, government researchers, and the military. Chao noted that many entities, including offshore drillers, wind farm developers, the military, and environmentalists, are interested in mapping the 80% of the seafloor that ******** uncharted.

Read More

Share

Details

Last Updated

Jun 04, 2024

Related Terms

• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up

Explore More

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

5 min read

Twin NASA Satellites Ready to Help Gauge Earth’s Energy Balance

Article 5 days ago

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

2 min read

Tech Today: Measuring the Buzz, Hum, and Rattle

NASA-supported wireless microphone array quickly, cheaply, and accurately maps noise from aircraft, animals, and more.

Article 6 days ago

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

6 min read

NASA to Measure Moonquakes With Help From InSight Mars Mission

Article 6 days ago

Keep Exploring

Discover Related Topics

Technology Transfer & Spinoffs

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Earth Science Stories

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Oceanography

Looking at our Earth from space, it is obvious that we live on a water planet. Ocean covers over 70%…

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

Robotics

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up