Cool science education worksheets and animations for school kids!
Posted: October 15, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator Leave a comment
We’ve got some great science education activities and animations for school kids, all about the new Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator.
Animations:
- Mapping the sea floor on RV Investigator –
- Measuring our oceans on RV Investigator –
- Towing sensors and cameras on RV Investigator –
- Moorings, anchors and parachutes on RV Investigator –
- Weather radar on RV Investigator –
Work sheets:
Why don’t you download them and give them a go!
So what science can be done on board Investigator?
Posted: October 13, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, RV Investigator Leave a comment
Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator, is so jam packed full of scientific equipment we have produced some fact sheets, so you can read about all of the capabilities.
There are five categories: oceanographic research, geoscience research, biological research, atmospheric research and ship specifications:
RV Investigator has a computer network to wow you with!
Posted: October 8, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Research Vessel Project, Information Technology, RV Investigator Leave a commentRV Investigator’s sophisticated computer network is in the final stages of fit out on board the ship.
A team of specialists have designed an impressive network for the new Marine National Facility research vessel.
The computer network has several really important roles. Firstly it’s to collect data from a vast array of scientific equipment, from the CTDs, to the TRIAXUS, to the weather research radar. It’s also there to keep everyone safe via a system of cameras, which will enable the science operations to be viewed from a number of locations on board, and it also keeps everyone connected to the rest of the world, via an impressive satellite communications system.
How wired are we talking? Here are some stats on the on board system, to wow you with:
- 8 central servers
- 30 cameras monitoring ship operations
- 58 TB of central scientific storage (yes Terabytes!)
- 100 telephones
- 1,000 network outlets
- The network is built on a fibre optic backbone with a 10 Gbps core switch, and 1 Gbps edge switches (wow!)
- Investigator will have a 512kbps VSAT data link to shore for email, internet, voice, video, remote support services as well as enabling live science data transfer.
Wow!
3D images of the MV Lake Illawarra shipwreck in the Derwent River
Posted: October 1, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Geophysical Survey and Mapping Team Leave a commentThe group within CSIRO that will operate the sea floor mapping equipment on board RV Investigator are called the Geophysical Survey and Mapping Team.
In addition to their work on the new Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator, they have recently acquired the EM2040c, which is a small, mobile, high resolution multibeam echo sounder, or a shallow water sonar.
The equipment is new to the team, and is part a suite of technology the team has available to Australian researchers for use in coastal research.
Matt Boyd and Stuart Edwards from the GSM Team and Andrew Pender from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies went out in the IMAS vessel Morana to calibrate the EM2040c and mapped the shipwreck of the Lake Illawarra.
MV Lake Illawarra was a 135 metre long bulk carrier that is currently lying in 34 metres of water on the southern side of the Tasman Bridge, in the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania.
Something for all the shipping industry rev heads!
Posted: September 30, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, engines, MaK, RV Investigator 1 CommentI know there are lots of people dying to know the specifications of Investigator’s engines!
Here’s the nitty gritty of the new Marine National Facility research vessel:
- Diesel engine: M.A.K 9 M25C [3 off ], Inline 9 cylinder ; 4 stroke cycle ; operating on marine gas distillate oil [output power = 3,000 kw].
- Exhaust Gas Turbocharger KBB – HPR 6,000
- Max speed 34,600 rpm
- Plain bearing type, with forced lubrication from the engine lube oil sump and gear pump.
- The rotor is driven by exhaust gas energy via turbine inlet housing & the turbine nozzle ring.
- It is equipped with a single stage radial flow turbine and compressor.
- The turbine has reaction blading arrangement, this being a set of fixed nozzle guide blades that direct the exhaust gas onto convergent rotor blades where the pressure drop occurs and the exhaust gas turbine is driven by the reaction force.
To put it in simpler terms…
Investigator is powered by three diesel electric engines that generate around nine megawatts of power. The average Australian home uses about 18 kilowatt-hours per day, which means Investigator could power a small suburb or a country town!
What’s a giant soccer ball doing on top of Investigator?
Posted: September 26, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Animation, Australia's Marine National Facility, RV Investigator, Weather research radar Leave a comment
Sure the top dome looks like a soccer ball, but in fact it’s a dual-polarisation C-band Doppler weather research radar!
A what?
Check out this animation and it’ll explain some of the awesome things about the radar on board Australia’s new marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator.
Transcript:
