.Austal announced in 2022 that it had struck a partnership with Saildrone to build a drone ship called the Saildrone Surveyor. Surveyors are about 65 feet long with a low-profile hull topped by a rigid sail. Here's what those drones are capable of:
Austal USA has announced a partnership with Saildrone, under which it will build sail-powered autonomous vessels.Amid its work on big Navy ships and subs and Coast Guard cutters, Austal USA also builds some strange-looking sail-powered drone ships. Compared to a warship they’re tiny, but according to a leading science and technology site, their impact on ocean science is proving to be revolutionary.
That announcement provided just a glimpse of what Surveyors and other sail-powered drone ships can do. With most of their propulsion coming from the sail, and solar panels supplying power, they can be send on missions that last for months, mapping seafloors and gathering data. A new in-depth article fromprovides a wealth of information on the work that drone ships, particularly Saildrone’s vessels, have been doing in recent years.
Among their feats so far: At least one Saildrone vessel has successfully circumnavigated the notoriously inhospitable Southern Ocean. Another, operated by NOAA, pierced the eyewall of a Category 4 hurricane in 2021, a feat that another drone repeated in 2022.
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