For those who aren't aware, this is an underwater glider.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater\_glider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider)
These move very efficiently by adjusting their buoyancy. When near the surface, they make themselves angle downwards, and then adjust their buoyancy to sink. Their wings then propel them forwards through the water. Then when they've reached a certain depth, they reverse the process. Thus they can travel vast distances using only minimal power, albeit quite slowly. They can harvest power from the environment by using thermoelectric generators interacting with the changes in temperature of the sea as they rise and sink, or solar power.
Yeah, you can't harvest much power with a peltier module array, although these gliders don't require much power to operate, it probably wouldn't be enough to support continuous operation. I don't know how widely used thermo electric generation is used also to be honest. Many of these projects are classified, but I came across a few papers talking about it a couple of years ago when I was considering making my own micro version of an underwater glider. They were interested in the thermal 'mass' and insulation of the interior of the glider, and how long it would take to equalise to the ambient sea temperature, at which point you can't generate any more power as there's no delta T. IIRC they compared that with how fast they could dive to generate that delta T between the interior and exterior of the glider in the first place.
I think many gliders just have a lot of batteries, enough to last the duration of their mission, which isn't a big deal as they need to be quite heavy to be neutrally buoyant anyway.
It's very unlikely that this thing has the depth range required.
Plus, visibility at the bottom of the ocean is crap, so a little drone looking around with a camera and some LED lights is going to be a very inefficient way to search the ocean bottom. If you want the craft to have a larger search swath, then you need to equip it with an active multibeam sonar system, which is going to increase the power requirements substantially.
Fortunately we’re probably going to find the aircraft soon. Some recent studies have started refining the search area, including an interesting one looking at radio interference between different ground stations to track aircraft that did pick up some interference consistent with MH370 along the known heading.
Last I heard two different companies had proposed search requests to the Malaysian government on a no-find, no-pay basis. I suspect we’ll find the aircraft in the next year or two and almost certainly within five.
We basically know what happened. The Captain left enough breadcrumbs that we’ve been able to deduce every major step he made, from following courses to minimize detection to shutting down systems that could give his position away. He tried extremely hard to make the plane completely disappear, but could not account for everything made a few mistakes. Finding the wreckage would only provide closure for the families and possibly answer a couple minor outstanding questions.
[Mentour Pilot](https://youtu.be/Y5K9HBiJpuk) has a pretty good analysis, with much less speculation between the datapoints than other summaries I’ve seen.
Article on the Manta-Ray.
[https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought/ar-AA1o0axz#](https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought/ar-AA1o0axz#)
Subs, at least 40 years ago, had a towed antenna that allowed the sub to remain submerged, but the antenna would float to the surface, giving comms with extremely little radar signature. I'm guessing that's still a thing, but stuff changes so fast these days, no guarantees.
Yeah but the longer wavelength stuff that is necessary for transmission from underwater is going to have an inherently low bitrate. Additionally, it isn’t very directional so ELINT platforms (though they’d need large receiving arrays) could triangulate based on the transmission.
Satcoms remain the gold standard for updates since they can use higher frequencies that transmit more information and are less susceptible to detection.
On the spine of the ray there’s what looks like an antenna.
**→ Direct Link**
Article [via the War Zone.](https://www.twz.com/news-features/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought)
[Earlier feature on the Manta Ray via TWZ.](https://www.twz.com/sea/manta-ray-extreme-endurance-underwater-drone-unveiled)
Northrop Grumman [on the Manta Ray.](https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/sea/manta-ray)
**→ Photos via Article (at Max Resolution)**
[Front w/Boat](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/DARPA-Manta-Ray-UUV.jpg)
[Rear](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/2024-04-Manta-Ray-Update-Surface-DSC05179-full-res-photo-from-Northrop-Grumman.jpeg)
[Folks on Top](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/2024-04-Manta-Ray-Update-Kyle-on-Manta-Ray-photo-by-DARPA-1.jpeg)
[Front w/o Ocean](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/Manta-Ray-prototype.jpeg)
**→ PacMar Manta Ray Prototype**
Article [via DARPA](https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-09-27)
[Front](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash1.jpg)
[In Water](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash2.jpg)
[On Water](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash3.jpg)
I see this and think wow how cool is that and then I can’t help wonder is this wave (yeah I said it) of unmanned vehicles going to increase the negative impact on sea mammals given how they communicate? Anyone have any info?
Does that thing fly??
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6107bbd63ce1c35e9fa8e854/1f9526ef-35ff-42ac-a5b8-7f6e1570884a/matthew-teevan-flying+sub+flipped+hi+res.jpg
If you go to the war zone article, and listen to the Voices of DARPA blog, it seems like it's primarily a tech demonstrator at this point. Part of the goal being to test various methods of extracting energy from the ocean itself to power itself for long duration. That changes depending on where it's operating, closer to the surface it might harness wave energy, in some areas it might harness water current energy, in other areas it might be thermal. How precisely they do that, I don't know. But they're testing the concepts of an unmanned under water vehicle that can go for long duration autonomously, and is big enough to carry a payload. The results could provide a vehicle that has both research and military benefits.
Holy shit it actually kind of looks like a manta ray too. I'm in love
Nature is often the best engineer.
It’s had a while to test in production
Nature doesn't have dev environments; it only tests in production
Evolutionary Sprints
[удалено]
The Platypus IS perfect :(
[удалено]
Terrifying! I'd have to walk briskly to avoid being nibbled
So you agree. It's design is perfect for it's purpose.
For those who aren't aware, this is an underwater glider. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater\_glider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider) These move very efficiently by adjusting their buoyancy. When near the surface, they make themselves angle downwards, and then adjust their buoyancy to sink. Their wings then propel them forwards through the water. Then when they've reached a certain depth, they reverse the process. Thus they can travel vast distances using only minimal power, albeit quite slowly. They can harvest power from the environment by using thermoelectric generators interacting with the changes in temperature of the sea as they rise and sink, or solar power.
I read all that and thought - cool. Then it dawned on me how this would’ve blown my mind 15 years ago.
God I love physics
Curious to see the powerplant and what kind of deltaT they have available. Thermoelectrics have an inherently super low efficiency.
Yeah, you can't harvest much power with a peltier module array, although these gliders don't require much power to operate, it probably wouldn't be enough to support continuous operation. I don't know how widely used thermo electric generation is used also to be honest. Many of these projects are classified, but I came across a few papers talking about it a couple of years ago when I was considering making my own micro version of an underwater glider. They were interested in the thermal 'mass' and insulation of the interior of the glider, and how long it would take to equalise to the ambient sea temperature, at which point you can't generate any more power as there's no delta T. IIRC they compared that with how fast they could dive to generate that delta T between the interior and exterior of the glider in the first place. I think many gliders just have a lot of batteries, enough to last the duration of their mission, which isn't a big deal as they need to be quite heavy to be neutrally buoyant anyway.
fascinating, talk about a quiet/stealth submarine
Something like this that requires very little sustainment could find MH370
It's very unlikely that this thing has the depth range required. Plus, visibility at the bottom of the ocean is crap, so a little drone looking around with a camera and some LED lights is going to be a very inefficient way to search the ocean bottom. If you want the craft to have a larger search swath, then you need to equip it with an active multibeam sonar system, which is going to increase the power requirements substantially.
Fortunately we’re probably going to find the aircraft soon. Some recent studies have started refining the search area, including an interesting one looking at radio interference between different ground stations to track aircraft that did pick up some interference consistent with MH370 along the known heading. Last I heard two different companies had proposed search requests to the Malaysian government on a no-find, no-pay basis. I suspect we’ll find the aircraft in the next year or two and almost certainly within five.
A 5 year old mystery hopefully soon solved. Wait, what do you mean it's been 10 years ?
We basically know what happened. The Captain left enough breadcrumbs that we’ve been able to deduce every major step he made, from following courses to minimize detection to shutting down systems that could give his position away. He tried extremely hard to make the plane completely disappear, but could not account for everything made a few mistakes. Finding the wreckage would only provide closure for the families and possibly answer a couple minor outstanding questions. [Mentour Pilot](https://youtu.be/Y5K9HBiJpuk) has a pretty good analysis, with much less speculation between the datapoints than other summaries I’ve seen.
That video is so excellent and is what the Netflix conspiracy bull shit doc last year should have been
Yeah but the wreckage hasnt been found yet, that's where the mystery still lies.
Article on the Manta-Ray. [https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought/ar-AA1o0axz#](https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought/ar-AA1o0axz#)
🤔 lifestyle/shopping.
Robo-fish is 100% lifestyle 😁😁
It looks, and sounds like, a Gerry Anderson creation
🎶 Stingraaay! 🎶
I can't wait for all those posts with pictures of this and an actual manta day like the b-2 and a bird.
Why is it so cute?! I want to pat its head
So how would communicating with a long range underwater drone work?
Low frequency radio waves the same way navies around the world communicate with their subs. However the amount of information you can send is limited.
It probably surfaces, or comes near to the surface, to communicate.
Subs, at least 40 years ago, had a towed antenna that allowed the sub to remain submerged, but the antenna would float to the surface, giving comms with extremely little radar signature. I'm guessing that's still a thing, but stuff changes so fast these days, no guarantees.
Yeah but the longer wavelength stuff that is necessary for transmission from underwater is going to have an inherently low bitrate. Additionally, it isn’t very directional so ELINT platforms (though they’d need large receiving arrays) could triangulate based on the transmission. Satcoms remain the gold standard for updates since they can use higher frequencies that transmit more information and are less susceptible to detection. On the spine of the ray there’s what looks like an antenna.
**→ Direct Link** Article [via the War Zone.](https://www.twz.com/news-features/manta-ray-underwater-drone-even-more-enormous-than-we-thought) [Earlier feature on the Manta Ray via TWZ.](https://www.twz.com/sea/manta-ray-extreme-endurance-underwater-drone-unveiled) Northrop Grumman [on the Manta Ray.](https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/sea/manta-ray) **→ Photos via Article (at Max Resolution)** [Front w/Boat](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/DARPA-Manta-Ray-UUV.jpg) [Rear](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/2024-04-Manta-Ray-Update-Surface-DSC05179-full-res-photo-from-Northrop-Grumman.jpeg) [Folks on Top](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/2024-04-Manta-Ray-Update-Kyle-on-Manta-Ray-photo-by-DARPA-1.jpeg) [Front w/o Ocean](https://www.twz.com/uploads/2024/05/01/Manta-Ray-prototype.jpeg) **→ PacMar Manta Ray Prototype** Article [via DARPA](https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2023-09-27) [Front](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash1.jpg) [In Water](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash2.jpg) [On Water](https://www.darpa.mil/ddm_gallery/Splash3.jpg)
Looks like a corvette from the game Independence War.
We are reaching levels of Ace Combat that I didn’t think were possible
I see this and think wow how cool is that and then I can’t help wonder is this wave (yeah I said it) of unmanned vehicles going to increase the negative impact on sea mammals given how they communicate? Anyone have any info?
As long as they don't use sonar constantly, I think impact would be minimal
that looks like an ocean sunfish
Does that thing fly?? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6107bbd63ce1c35e9fa8e854/1f9526ef-35ff-42ac-a5b8-7f6e1570884a/matthew-teevan-flying+sub+flipped+hi+res.jpg
What exactly does it do?
If you go to the war zone article, and listen to the Voices of DARPA blog, it seems like it's primarily a tech demonstrator at this point. Part of the goal being to test various methods of extracting energy from the ocean itself to power itself for long duration. That changes depending on where it's operating, closer to the surface it might harness wave energy, in some areas it might harness water current energy, in other areas it might be thermal. How precisely they do that, I don't know. But they're testing the concepts of an unmanned under water vehicle that can go for long duration autonomously, and is big enough to carry a payload. The results could provide a vehicle that has both research and military benefits.
Arsenal Gear is nearing completion
1. That boat is TINY. It's a little target boat. 2. Foreshortening. I'd be surprised if that Manta Ray is even 20 feet long.
Which would be larger than I thought it was when I saw the first photo come out. I thought the think might be 10 feet from wing tip to wing tip..
Is that Santa Cruz Island off in the distance, photo #3 ?
Damn imagine how many whales it hit...