Animating Investigator’s science capabilities: oceanographic research with the CTD
Posted: August 8, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Animation, Australia's Marine National Facility, CTD, Oceanography, RV Investigator 1 CommentWe’ve come up with a fun way to help explain the scientific and engineering capabilities of Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator, with a series of animations.
One of the key pieces of equipment oceanographers use is called a CTD, which is a device that profiles the conductivity and temperature of the water column at different depths.
This animation explains how this equipment is used on board Investigator, Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel.
Check it out!
Transcript:
RV Investigator delivered in Singapore!
Posted: August 5, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a comment
It is my great pleasure to inform you that delivery of RV Investigator took place yesterday in Singapore.
Australia’s new Marine National Facility (MNF) research vessel, Investigator, will soon sail for its home port of Hobart. We are aiming to have the vessel in Hobart by 10 September, noting that the actual date may vary depending on its physical departure from Singapore, the weather en route, and/or possible minor delays in AQIS/Customs clearance upon arrival in arrival in Australian waters. Planning will now commence for a welcome to port ceremony.
It has taken almost 10 years, an injection of funding from the Commonwealth for $120 million, and the dedication and hard work of many to have reached this milestone. At this point I would like to acknowledge the patience and good will demonstrated by Australia’s marine science community.
In early September, the MNF Steering Committee will meet to determine the 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 voyage scheduling.
Although the timing of delivery has been delayed longer than any of us had expected, the project remains on budget, on scope and with ~ 3 million man hours worked without a lost time injury. I offer my sincere appreciation to the dedicated FRV teams in Australia and Singapore for working so hard to achieve this outcome.
I look forward to keeping you informed with future developments as we enter into a new era in marine and atmospheric research for Australian scientists and their international collaborators.
Best wishes
Toni Moate CPA GAICD
Executive Director, Future Research Vessel Project
IHS Maritime 360 recognises RV Investigator as one of the best in the world!
Posted: August 5, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Research Vessel Project, http://www.ihsmaritime360.com/, RV Investigator, ship construction, Ships of the Year 2013 Leave a commentEach year IHS Maritime 360, a global information company, undertakes an international search for the best ship building projects.
Of the 2900 or so ship builds in 2013, IHS Maritime 360 named 13 that stood out from the crowd.
Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel Investigator was named as one of the top ship builds for 2013!
An abridged version of the article can be found here: http://ihsmaritime.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/ihs-maritimes-ships-of-the-year-2014/
The full article can be downloaded here:
The weather research radar on the monkey island!
Posted: July 28, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Atmospheric, Atmospheric research, Australia's Marine National Facility, climate, dual-polarisation, Future Research Vessel Project, Monkey Island, RV Investigator, weather, weather radar Leave a commentAlso located on RV Investigator’s monkey island is the main mast, which houses a weather research radar.
Scientists hope to answer some of the big questions about weather, climate, and the atmospheric conditions in remote areas of the world’s oceans with the a dual-polarisation radar.
It will collect cloud and weather data from clouds towering 20 kilometres over the tropical ocean to cold ice storms in the Antarctic, in a 150 kilometre radius from the ship, and will have a broad range of research applications.
Communications equipment on Investigator’s monkey island
Posted: July 14, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Communication system, Communications domes, Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator, ship construction, VSAT Leave a commentInvestigator’s communications equipment is located on the monkey island.
From the drawings of the ship you can see where the domes are located.
Investigator has a 512kbps VSAT data link to shore for email, internet, voice, video, remote support services, as well as enabling live science data transfer.
It is also capable of live via satellite interviews to most television stations and studios globally.
Investigator’s Observation Deck!
Posted: July 4, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Research Vessel Project, Monkey Island, Observation Deck, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a commentDid you know the highest accessible point, other than the masts on board a ship, is called the monkey island?
RV Investigator’s monkey island includes a number of key pieces of scientific and communications equipment and an Observation Deck.
The Observation Deck was designed for scientists to observe whales, dolphins and sea birds.
Check out the photos of the construction and fit out of the Observation Deck!
Manoeuvring Investigator!
Posted: June 19, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, cJoy, Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a commentNow you know how Investigator is a cool research vessel? Well it’s just about to go up further in your estimation.
One of the tricky things for the Master to do on board the Marine National Facility research vessel, is to manoeuvre the ship from the bridge, while the scientists on the back deck are giving instructions, as to what’s going on with a piece of scientific equipment.
Sure there are plenty of cameras showing the Master what’s happening, but wouldn’t it just be easier if the Master could manoeuvre the ship from the back deck, standing right next to the scientists?
Of course it would, and that’s just what will be possible on board Investigator!
Investigator has two plug in points on the back deck for a piece of equipment called a cJoy, that will allow the Master to use the rudder, engines, bow thruster, propulsion motors and propellers.
Here’s a photo of one of Investigator’s Masters, Mike Watson, trying out the cJoy mobile unit on the back deck, during the scientific sea trials, with Steve Thomas looking on.
The two plug in points on the back deck for the mobile unit are shown in this diagram. 
There are actually two cJoy systems on board the ship. One is permanently mounted on the starboard wing of the bridge and the second is located on the port side wing of the bridge and also doubles as a mobile unit that can be plugged into sockets on the back deck.
The images below will show you where the mobile cJoy unit is located on the port side wing of the bridge.
How cool is that!
