RV Investigator looking switched on!
Posted: March 13, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, engines, power supply, RV Investigator, Switchboard room Leave a comment »A lot of work has been going on inside RV Investigator and you won’t believe the changes. Check out these photos of the switchboard room, which is looking pretty switched on!
This is the room where the electricity generated by the diesel engines and their alternators gets distributed around the ship to power absolutely everything.
On Investigator each engine can theoretically generate 2.88 megawatts of power so with all three running we can theoretically generate about 9 megawatts of power.
To give this some perspective, the average Australian household consumes 18 kilowatt (kW) hours each day.
Using this as a basis, let’s say each house consumes 18kW at any instant, therefore 9MW divided by 18kW means we could power 500 average Australian homes comfortably.
So we could power a small suburb or a country town!
Take a bow… block 201 is lifted into place!
Posted: March 11, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, bow of the ship, Future Research Vessel Project, gondola, LEGO Investigator, RV Investigator 4 Comments »RV Investigator’s block 201, the bow of the ship at the deck level, has been completed and lifted into place.
This is an enormous block, which had to be constructed in smaller sections, assembled on the wharf, and then lifted into place.
Only the gondola is yet to be fitted to the hull of the ship.
How incredible does Investigator look now!
RV Investigator’s gondola nears completion
Posted: March 8, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Reserach Vessel Project, gondola, RV Investigator, seafloor, sub bottom profiler, swath map Leave a comment »RV Investigator’s gondola is nearing completion and so too is the section in the hull of the ship where it will be attached.
The gondola will house several important acoustic instruments, including two swath mappers, to map the seafloor. One operates to a depth of about 500 metres and will be used on the shelf and the upper slope for very high-resolution maps. The other is a full ocean-depth mapper, which is able to map at depths of 7 kilometres and about 15 kilometres either side of the ship.
The gondola will also contain a sub-bottom profiler that can determine the make-up of the seafloor. A signal coming from this equipment can penetrate to around 25 metres into sand and about 100 metres in loose sediments.
Here are the latest photos showing the gondola in the fabrication shed and the part of the hull of the ship, where the gondola will be attached. 
RV Investigator’s bridge transported and lifted!
Posted: March 5, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, bridge, Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a comment »The bridge of RV Investigator has been blasted, painted and transported to the wharf area, and lifted into place.
The block is very long and thin, and it just fits down the streets of the shipyard!
Sections of the steel have been painted brown and this area will eventually be cut away and fitted with windows.
This is block 401 and now that it’s in place, this leaves just one block left to lift!
More LEGO® Investigator competitions!
Posted: February 25, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project | Tags: LEGO Investigator, RV Investigator, Scientriffic, The Helix Leave a comment »Our limited edition LEGO® Investigators are proving very popular!
Recently CSIRO Education ran a competition in each of their magazines, The Helix and Scientriffic, to give away two of the fabulous LEGO models.
Here are some of the very impressive entries!
The budding scientists were asked what scientific research they would investigate if they were the captain of Investigator.
Winners will be announced on 1 March for Scientriffic and 1 April for The Helix.
Is it the space shuttle taking off? No, it’s our fabulous gondola!
Posted: February 20, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Work on the gondola has been progressing and it’s looking rather fabulous. Here’s the latest photo from the shipyard, of RV Investigator’s gondola being turned.
It looks just like a space shuttle, taking off!
To the pinnacle of the ship – the main mast!
Posted: February 18, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »At the very pinnacle of the ship is the main mast, which will house a weather research radar.
You can see it highlighted here in the graphic of RV Investigator – the dome at the top indicates the radar. Work has begun on the main mast as you’ll see in the photos below.
Bacon and eggs anyone?
Posted: February 13, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Work is continuing on the inside fit-out of RV Investigator. Here’s a photo of the galley or kitchen equipment that will be onboard.
Not quite ready for bacon and eggs but well on the way to cooking up a storm!
Big, beautiful and green!
Posted: February 11, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »A few weeks ago on this blog we showed you block 110 heading down the street to the blasting and painting chamber. Now it’s out of the paint chamber looking, big, beautiful and green!
It’s the first chance we’ve had to see the ship’s name and home port, in bold lettering on the side too.
Doesn’t the ship look amazing!
Block 201, the top layer of the bow, under construction in the fabrication shed.
Posted: February 6, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Block 201, the bow of the ship at the 200 level is big. It’s so big that it won’t fit down the streets of the shipyard, so it’s being built in smaller sections.
Here is the graphic to show you which block we’re talking about, and some photos from the fabrication shed of various parts of the block.
The final pieces are going into place!
Posted: February 4, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »The final layer of blocks, the 400 series, is being assembled at the Investigator Erection Area on the wharf, making the ship look enormous! Block 402 has now been lifted into place.
Here is the graphic to help explain which block goes where and then some photos of block 402 in the shed, and then being added to the ship. 
What a giant!
Posted: January 30, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »I’ve been wondering how big the ship really is. It’s a bit hard to get a sense of the perspective, because everything is just so enormous.
For example, when you stand on the back deck, how wide will it really be? Now we have the photo that will give you a really good idea.
Check out he last photo of block 110, the stern. It’s amazing!
Surprise evacuation, a great success!
Posted: January 28, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Recently at the Sembawang Shipyard there was a surprise evacuation drill of the Investigator Erection Area.
You know the sort of scenario, when all of a sudden the fire alarms ring and you have to leave your work station, and make sure you’ve remembered where to go and who to report to. They’re important events to make sure everyone remembers what to do in case of an emergency.
The teams at the shipyard did an impressive job, taking less than 6 minutes to evacuate 351 people from the ship!
Well done!
Boom!
Posted: January 25, 2013 Filed under: Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Lots of booms and components have arrived at the shipyard and are in storage waiting to be fitted to ship.
We’re almost finished along the 200 series!
Posted: January 23, 2013 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a comment »Block 208, which is right at the back of RV Investigator, has been finished, painted and lifted into place.
Here’s the graphic to show you which block we’re talking about and then there are some great photos of what’s been happening in the shipyard.
