The Search for the Flight MH370 Goes to the Next Stage: A Monumental Task

Gulf News | Thursday, May 8, 2014| gulfnews.com SPECIAL REPORT A23 THE SEARCH FOR FLIGHT MH370 GOES TO THE NEXT STAGE How deep does the MH370 debris lie? The first stage was determined by the pulses detected by the towed pinger locator. These signals came from the ocean floor between 4.5-4.8km below the surface. To understand A MONUMENTAL TASK the magnitude of the depth, here is a graphic. Om level of sea 200m The most expensive search in aviation history has been fruitless so far but the efforts will continue. Here is a look at the main hi-tech devices used until now. Indian Ocean About 90% of all marine life lives above this depth Two signals detected on April 6 Detail area 318m World record for deepest dive on SCUBA Signal 1 Possible new phase extended search AUSTRALIA Timeline of the deep sea search Perth The second signal was heard in form of two distinct pinger Separate signals were detected by the Towed Pinger Locator deployed by the Australian ship Ocean Shield. 90cm The first signal lasted about two hours and This information allowed to narrow -Signal 2 10km radius initial search 828m FLIGHT RECORDER DO NOTOPEN 20 minutes and a down the initial Burj Khalifa PHOENIX second one was underwater search area Underwater Locator returns, consistent with transmissions 5Km 500Km as a 10km radius circle (314.16 sq km). detected for 13 min 1,000m 35kg approximately. Final satelite handshake Beacon from black boxes. 1,402m The towed pinger locator was set at this depth, dragged by the Ocean Shield ship April 17 18 25 28 May The UAV completed about 50 per cent of the 314.16 square kilometre area. No contacts of interest has been found until this point. Over the 50th day of the MH370 search, in its 14th mission, the Bluefin faced its second technical Experts met in Canberra to analyse all data available so far and corroborate that they have been accurately interpreted it to chart the next course. The AUV Bluefin 21 The autonomous underwater vehicle The robotic sub had Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that the search will enter into a was deployed for the first time for a 24h (AUV), completed its first mission, searching over an area of 56.33 square to be reprogrammed to get into deeper areas. For the very first time, the Bluefin 21 reached 'new phase' after the Bluefin finished scanning the deep sea terrain without any results. The new area will span 700km by 80km, could take between 8 and 12 months to be examined, and cost $60 million. mission, but it had to return after just 6h, as it had reached its 1,960m The highest point of the first search area in the Zenith Plateau problem; a software failure. deep limit of 4.5km. kilometres. 4,695 metres. 2,000m Bluefin 21 anatomy This AUV will continue in service for the mapping via sonar in the Zenith Plateau area in the Indian Ocean. The Bluefin is a torpedo-shaped autonomous vehicle which fills with water when it is submerged. The free-flooded device, interconnects all its elements by wet cables and the electronic components are protected by individual pressure-compensated vessels. Its hull is made of ABS plastic, a terpolymer known by its impact resistance, toughness and electrical insulation properties. 4.93m 53cm $ Max. depth Autonomy 25 hours Speed 8.33km/h 750kg Weight Cost per day MH370 missions $40,000 4695m 16 so far 3,000m The robotic submarine is a modular structure formed by swappable units with different payloads to adapt the device configuration for a variety of missions. Navigation & propulsion 3,840m Titanic wreckage Power- Sonar- -Recovery & storage 3,900m Air France flight AF447 wreckage found 12 4,000m NAVIGATION & PROPULSION UNIT 8. To get an idea of this depth, just imagine the height of almost six stacked Burj Khalifa 1 Strobe light POWER UNIT 2 Dual-frequency GPS/ radio frequency/ Iridium satellite network antenna 6 Lock-on belts Keep the modular pieces on place to form a solid structure. 3 The Blue Tailcone Articulated thruster, which provides propulsion and stability to the AUV. 4,500-4,800m The possible depth of the black boxes according to the pulses detected by the pinger locator on April 6 10 Custom moulded filler piece SONAR & STORAGE UNIT 8 Subsea batteries Nine fully water-proof and pressure-tolerant lithium batteries, give mobility to the Bluefin for 25 hours at 5.5 km/h. 11 9 Custom moulded filler piece 4,695m Bluefin 21 max. depth. Bluefin CEO David Kelly compares the pressure at this depth as "equivalent to a Cadillac Escalade balanced on your thumbnail" 10 Titanium oil-filled vessels for the sonars RECOVERY UNIT 14 5,000m 11 Data storage process unit 13 Lift point 12 4GB storage module Is basically a flash drive device, which is connected to a computer to download all the mission data 14 Recovery line 4 Custom moulded filler piece 5 Titanium oil-filled vessel Protects the electronic components (navigation in this unit) against the extreme pressures of the deep sea. When the Bluefin comes back to the surface, it detaches a portion of its nose which, is connected to a line. This 'floating anchor' facilitates the recovery of the vehicle. and begin the analysis with the specialised software. Approximatly the deepest point in the Zenith Plateau area The image quality is proportional inverse to the wide of the sonar beam Research Zenith Plateau capabilities With the absence of light| and extreme conditions in 6,000m A 24h mission for the aquatic robot, consists of the following tasks: The vehicle scans the areas in a 'lawn mower' pattern Remus 6000, Orion and Remora 6000 maximum depth the deep sea, the sonars are the tool of choice to Image not in real size Two hours to get near the ocean create maps of the seabed. This is the way researchers analyse unexplored areas, looking for any sign of the airplane's body and the valuable black boxes. 4h floor and another two hours to 100km return to the surface. Sonar image sample of the Zenith Plateau in the Indian Ocean 16h To map the ocean floor via sonar devices to collect data. Around 90 sq km per day. A SIDE SCAN SONAR (SSS) B HI RESOLUTION CAMERA If the sonar detects an object of interest during the data analysis, the Bluefin comes back loaded with a HD camera to obtain images and corroborate what was detected. 4h To analyse the information. The side scan emits fan-shaped acoustic pulses towards the sea floor in a wide angle. The intensity on the reflection of these pulses over the terrain are recorded and interpreted to create high quality images. During the last month the Bluefin has scanned approximately 400 sq km. Bluefin bottom view 7,000m Time to add some assets ORION Remora 6000 What The assets are subject to availability Australian, Malaysian and Chinese officials met on May 7 in an effort to plan the expanded search. Over the next few weeks, new equipment of towed sonars and UAVS would be deployed to join the Bluefin 21 in the massive task. What could be the possible options? They could send a robot like this, a towed device which was involved in the Air France flight recovery in 2011. Two precise mechanical arms can put the black boxes into a basket to be finally retrieved. because these are limited in happens if they finally find the debris and number. Contracts, calculations and analysis must be done before transporting any equipment to the Indian Ocean for the second stage of the search. That will take several weeks to be arranged. Orion Remus 6000 Towed side scan sonar which can transmit data in realtime under 6,000m. It can scan as wide as 3,000m but this compromises image resolution. UAV that is basically the same as the Bluefin 21 but can go deeper at 6,000m. In 2011, it found the black boxes of the crashed Air France flight AF447. black boxes? (The following assets belong to the US Navy) Sources: Bluefin Robotics, US Navy, Honeywell ED-55 Flight Data Recording System, NOC, WAashington Post, National Post, Reuters, Graphic News Photos: Supplied, www.deepreef.com Hugo A. Sanchez/©Gulf News 1,680km