{"393131":{"#nid":"393131","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New robotic vehicle provides a never-before-seen look under Antarctica","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EEditor\u0027s note: Icefin\u0027s videos from the seafloor can also be downloaded at the Dropbox link at the bottom of the press release.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA first-of-its-kind robotic vehicle recently dove to depths never before visited under Antarctica\u2019s Ross Ice Shelf and brought back video of life on the seafloor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA team of scientists and engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology assembled the unmanned, underwater vehicle on Antarctica. They deployed (and retrieved) the vehicle through a 12-inch diameter hole through 20 meters of ice and another 500 meters of water to the sea floor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe robotic vehicle, called Icefin, carried a scientific payload capable of measuring ocean conditions under the ice. Icefin\u2019s readings of the environment under Antarctica\u2019s ice shelves, and video of the life that thrives in these harsh conditions, will help understand how Antarctica\u2019s ice shelves are changing under warming conditions, and to understand how organisms thrive in cold and light-free environments. The technologies developed for Icefin will also help in the search for life on other planets, namely Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Antarctica\u2019s icy oceans are remarkably similar to Europa\u2019s ice-capped oceans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe built a vehicle that\u2019s a hybrid between the really small probes and the ocean-going vessels, and we can deploy it through bore holes on Antarctica,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/schmidt.eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EBritney Schmidt\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Tech, and the principal investigator for the Icefin project. \u201cAt the same time, we\u2019re advancing hypotheses that we need for Europa and understanding ocean systems here better. We\u2019re also developing and getting comfortable with technologies that make polar science -- and eventually Europa science -- more realistic.\u0022\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIcefin was deployed as a part of the Sub Ice Marine and Planetary\u2013analog Ecosystem (SIMPLE) program, funded by NASA and supported by NSF, with Schmidt as the principal\u0026nbsp;investigator. The research team returned from Antarctica in December 2014\u003Cstrong\u003E. \u003C\/strong\u003EIcefin is planned to make its Arctic debut in summer 2016, with a return to Antarctica that fall, the team hopes (For more images from the mission, visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/1P2hBRx\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/1P2hBRx\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/bit.ly\/1P2hBRx\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt McMurdo Station, Schmidt and a team including Georgia Tech scientists and engineers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), led by principal research engineer \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.robotics.gatech.edu\/team\/faculty\/west\u0022\u003EMick West\u003C\/a\u003E, deployed Icefin to explore the underside of the ice shelves flowing off the continent.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat truly separates Icefin from some of the other vehicles is that it\u2019s fairly slender, yet still has all of the sensors that the scientists like Britney need,\u201d West said. \u201cOur vehicle has instrumentation aboard both for navigation and ocean science that other vehicles do not.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Southern Ocean can be as deep as 5,000 meters. Icefin is capable of diving 1,500 meters and can perform three-kilometer-long surveys. Previous vehicles in Icefin\u2019s class were rated to a few hundred meters.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe saw evidence of a complex community on the sea floor that has never been observed before, and unprecedented detail on the ice-ocean interface that hasn\u2019t been achieved before,\u201d Schmidt said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVideo captured by Icefin shows eerie footage of an active seafloor 500 meters under the Ross Ice Shelf.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBiologists at McMurdo were just amazed at the amount of biology at that location which included sea stars, sponges and anemones that were at the ocean bottom,\u201d West said. \u201cTo have our very first deep-ocean dive happen through a small hole in the ice and go all the way to the ocean bottom and get the video we did was pretty amazing.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo get to the bottom, Icefin first had to be built. A partnership between research-focused GTRI and academic-focused School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) enabled the team to design, build and deploy Icefin under the ice in less than a year.Traditional design cycles for these types of vehicles typically are two to three years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team had to design for a number of challenges associated with deploying Icefin in such an extreme environment. For example, standard electronics systems are not typically rated to the extreme temperatures found under the Ross Ice Shelf.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe had probably 100 contingencies for if something went wrong,\u201d West said. \u201cThrough lots of analysis and robust design, we were fortunate not to have to initiate any of them.\u201d\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce Icefin was assembled, the vehicle was deployed through a bore hole in the ice that was 12 inches in diameter and 20 meters deep. Bore holes are often drilled on Antarctica for ocean moorings and sediment sampling.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETraditional underwater vehicles deployed on Antarctica are either \u201croving eyes\u201d because they carry only a camera, or much larger vehicles that are deployed in the water on the edge of the ice shelf. Icefin fills the gap between these two kinds of vehicles: able to be deployed easily by small teams in any environment, yet still able to record oceanographic information traditionally done by much larger vehicles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIcefin is the most capable small vehicle that\u2019s been down there,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cWhat\u2019s really rewarding is that at the same time, we were able to involve some outstanding students in the design, build and deployment of the vehicle.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGraduate student Anthony Spears and undergraduate Matthew Meister, as well as Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/new\/\u0022\u003EVertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program\u003C\/a\u003E participants, were involved in design of the vehicle. Spears and Meister also played key roles in the field integration and deployment of Icefin, along with EAS postdoctoral fellow Catherine Walker and graduate student Jacob Buffo from Icefin\u2019s science team.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIcefin carries forward and up\/down imaging and sonars and several different sensors. Icefin is also modular, similar to vehicles used on space missions. Scientists can swap sensors or point them in different directions as needed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETraditional GPS does not work under the ice, so Icefin uses a navigation system called SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) to triangulate its position based on measuring the range and bearing of features on the seafloor or under the ice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUsing algorithms such as SLAM allows us to construct a map of the unknown under-ice environment. When you can do that, you can begin to get a 3D picture of what\u2019s going on under the water,\u201d West said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe sensors on Icefin are helping scientists understand how the ocean affects properties of the ice, and how the ice affects properties of the ocean. The exchange between ocean and ice is a process that mediates biology, affects the climate system and controls the stability of glaciers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThose are important processes that we can work out here in our backyard at the same time as we\u2019re answering how an ice shell would reflect the ocean chemistry on Europa,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cThe ice shell is built out of the ocean, but how that process works is not well understood.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVideos from the seafloor:\u0026nbsp;https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/sh\/qn2j1q9qf3rqdto\/AACn5xE17456hQK43XHj0RBRa?dl=0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPhotos from the mission:\u0026nbsp;https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/georgiatech\/sets\/72157650356164390\/with\/16626135435\/\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more on explorers at Georgia Tech, see the feature story in the spring issue of Research Horizons magazine:\u0026nbsp;http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/features\/explorers\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research is supported by Georgia Institute of Technology and the School of Earth and Atmospheric sciences through Schmidt\u2019s startup funds, and partnership with GTRI. Icefin deployed to Antarctica with SIMPLE funded by NASA through grant NNX12AL65G. Deployment was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under project B259. Any conclusions or opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsoring agencies.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E 177 North Avenue\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u0026nbsp; USA\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/GTResearchNews\u0022\u003E@GTResearchNews\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Brett Israel (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/btiatl\u0022\u003E@btiatl\u003C\/a\u003E) (404-385-1933) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Brett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A first-of-its-kind robotic vehicle recently dove to depths never before visited under Antarctica\u2019s Ross Ice Shelf and brought back video of life on the seafloor."}],"uid":"27902","created_gmt":"2015-04-02 09:15:47","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:58","author":"Brett Israel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"393641":{"id":"393641","type":"image","title":"Brittle star on the seafloor under the Ross Ice Shelf","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895110","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:50","alt":"Brittle star on the seafloor under the Ross Ice Shelf","file":{"fid":"75609","name":"icefin2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/icefin2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/icefin2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":131748,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/icefin2.jpg?itok=Zh7tzx2i"}},"393631":{"id":"393631","type":"image","title":"Icefin spots aquatic on the seafloor under the Ross Ice Shelf","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895110","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:50","alt":"Icefin spots aquatic on the seafloor under the Ross Ice Shelf","file":{"fid":"75608","name":"icefin1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/icefin1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/icefin1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":161307,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/icefin1.jpg?itok=VMrC1Xji"}},"393111":{"id":"393111","type":"image","title":"Icefin on the ice","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895110","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:50","alt":"Icefin on the ice","file":{"fid":"75595","name":"16502879721_35a4e1b446_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16502879721_35a4e1b446_k.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16502879721_35a4e1b446_k.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":992720,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/16502879721_35a4e1b446_k.jpg?itok=ETe1EKv3"}},"393121":{"id":"393121","type":"image","title":"The view under the Ross Ice Shelf","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895110","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:50","alt":"The view under the Ross Ice Shelf","file":{"fid":"75596","name":"16503546982_bd41c81a0d_o.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16503546982_bd41c81a0d_o.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/16503546982_bd41c81a0d_o.png","mime":"image\/png","size":343073,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/16503546982_bd41c81a0d_o.png?itok=UEre_qLy"}}},"media_ids":["393641","393631","393111","393121"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"82391","name":"Antarctica"},{"id":"81291","name":"Britney Schmidt"},{"id":"122051","name":"icefin"},{"id":"122041","name":"mick west"},{"id":"123231","name":"ross ice shelf"},{"id":"122061","name":"underwater vehicle"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}