5 ms·

Boeing unveils autonomous submarine

55 points by curtis 11y ago

pavel_lishin 11y ago
Anyone else's first thoughts jumping directly to the exploration of Europa? (Or Enceladus, or Ganymede?)
- vonklaus 11y ago
  Not me, I jumped right to WWII/Cold War. While the obvious extension of the technology would be aqueous mobility because: > Autonomy is a lot less complex in high friction environment with restricted pull of gravity and speed. > The ocean being less spacially constrained > less actors and objects to contend with relative to area/volume > An extra dimension to use(if sub-surface) although this could make for more complex models to some degree, it likely would be much easier given the above points. So this is somewhat obvious and expected, and likely being employed currently but it is pretty fucking scary, because: > indefinite deployment of war machines > unlimited strike capability > no human governance for last call strike decisions > 100% likelihood of dead-hand insurance for all nuclear nations > attack vector, while likely insane to penetrate, would imply remote control nukes. A human may not be needed on the other end to execute a strike. It would be awesome to use this on Europa or even deep sea exploration and research activities as we could really derisk the endeavor and also limit costs as this reaches economies of scale, I think that may be a small part of how humans employ this short term.
tomjen3 11y ago
Could this be used for smuggling?
- deckar01 11y ago
  Although its primary purpose seems to be data collection, I wouldn't be suprised if they left room for bulky sensor modules.
  - a3n 11y ago
    The scroll of intended uses in the video was heavily military, and some of it combat-focused.
- ChuckMcM 11y ago
  Of course it could. I was thinking of adding "In related news, Boeing has over $1B in bookings for the new sub from South American customers." In the US at least one way to get a quick introduction to the local representatives of the 3 letter agencies is to start sea trials of a long duration autonomous underwater vehicle.
  - notatoad 11y ago
    >In the US at least one way to get a quick introduction to the local representatives of the 3 letter agencies Of course, if you're Boeing it's not really a concern to have the three letter agencies knocking on your door. They call that a sales meeting.
jfoutz 11y ago
The article is a little thin on details. The big breakthrough seems to be mission duration - possibly months. With such a long duration, some other possibilities open up. Primarily, rather than launching from a ship close to the target, the sub can be launched from shore, navigate out to the target and then return. I wonder what the "hybrid rechargeable power system" is. Diesel with batteries? well understood and effective. It's gotta be something pretty energy dense to move around that mass and still have space for useful stuff.
- smoyer 11y ago
  James Gosling (the inventor of Java) has several videos on-line that describe the hardware and software used in his company's WaveGliders. While they're not submarines, they are autonomous and are powered by the waves they travel through. Solar cells provide power for instrumentation as well as navigation. I have no idea how you'd power such a vehicle as large as the Boeing system without either fossil fuel or a nuclear reactor but it would be interesting to compare the vehicle's missions.
  - bpicolo 11y ago
    Solar doesn't work so well for submarines, granted. Light doesn't penetrate water nearly enough.
  - unclebucknasty 11y ago
    >powered by the waves they travel through. How does this work? Wouldn't they expend more energy than they gain?
    - mac01021 11y ago
      The ocean waves move a float up and down at the surface. This pulls and pushes a set of fins-on-hinges below the surface to create forward motion. It's ingenious, and works because the waves don't push objects laterally, but are really just a vertical oscillation. The company that makes it is called Liquid Robotics, which should be enough to go on if you want to search for additional details.
melling 11y ago
The should send a few to the Indian Ocean. MH370 is down there somewhere.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

55 points by curtis 11y ago

pavel_lishin 11y ago

Anyone else's first thoughts jumping directly to the exploration of Europa? (Or Enceladus, or Ganymede?)

vonklaus 11y ago
Not me, I jumped right to WWII/Cold War. While the obvious extension of the technology would be aqueous mobility because: > Autonomy is a lot less complex in high friction environment with restricted pull of gravity and speed. > The ocean being less spacially constrained > less actors and objects to contend with relative to area/volume > An extra dimension to use(if sub-surface) although this could make for more complex models to some degree, it likely would be much easier given the above points. So this is somewhat obvious and expected, and likely being employed currently but it is pretty fucking scary, because: > indefinite deployment of war machines > unlimited strike capability > no human governance for last call strike decisions > 100% likelihood of dead-hand insurance for all nuclear nations > attack vector, while likely insane to penetrate, would imply remote control nukes. A human may not be needed on the other end to execute a strike. It would be awesome to use this on Europa or even deep sea exploration and research activities as we could really derisk the endeavor and also limit costs as this reaches economies of scale, I think that may be a small part of how humans employ this short term.

tomjen3 11y ago

Could this be used for smuggling?

deckar01 11y ago
Although its primary purpose seems to be data collection, I wouldn't be suprised if they left room for bulky sensor modules.
- a3n 11y ago
  The scroll of intended uses in the video was heavily military, and some of it combat-focused.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
Of course it could. I was thinking of adding "In related news, Boeing has over $1B in bookings for the new sub from South American customers." In the US at least one way to get a quick introduction to the local representatives of the 3 letter agencies is to start sea trials of a long duration autonomous underwater vehicle.
- notatoad 11y ago
  >In the US at least one way to get a quick introduction to the local representatives of the 3 letter agencies Of course, if you're Boeing it's not really a concern to have the three letter agencies knocking on your door. They call that a sales meeting.

jfoutz 11y ago

The article is a little thin on details. The big breakthrough seems to be mission duration - possibly months. With such a long duration, some other possibilities open up. Primarily, rather than launching from a ship close to the target, the sub can be launched from shore, navigate out to the target and then return. I wonder what the "hybrid rechargeable power system" is. Diesel with batteries? well understood and effective. It's gotta be something pretty energy dense to move around that mass and still have space for useful stuff.

smoyer 11y ago
James Gosling (the inventor of Java) has several videos on-line that describe the hardware and software used in his company's WaveGliders. While they're not submarines, they are autonomous and are powered by the waves they travel through. Solar cells provide power for instrumentation as well as navigation. I have no idea how you'd power such a vehicle as large as the Boeing system without either fossil fuel or a nuclear reactor but it would be interesting to compare the vehicle's missions.
- bpicolo 11y ago
  Solar doesn't work so well for submarines, granted. Light doesn't penetrate water nearly enough.
- unclebucknasty 11y ago
  >powered by the waves they travel through. How does this work? Wouldn't they expend more energy than they gain?
  - mac01021 11y ago
    The ocean waves move a float up and down at the surface. This pulls and pushes a set of fins-on-hinges below the surface to create forward motion. It's ingenious, and works because the waves don't push objects laterally, but are really just a vertical oscillation. The company that makes it is called Liquid Robotics, which should be enough to go on if you want to search for additional details.

melling 11y ago

The should send a few to the Indian Ocean. MH370 is down there somewhere.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]