A look at the world of research vessels!
Posted: August 26, 2015 Filed under: Home | Tags: Future Research Vessel Project, International Research Ship Operators, IRSO, Marine National Facility, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a commentAround the world there are lots of research vessels and the International Research Ship Operators, or IRSO, provides a forum for collaboration and cooperation.
The Marine National Facility is one of the organisations that belongs to IRSO.
Last year we collaborated to produce this video, about some of the different kinds of research vessels there are around the world and the sort of science that’s being undertaken.
You’ll need to go and grab a cuppa, the video runs for an hour and a half!
If you’d like to fast forward to a particular operator:
| IRSO member | Start of sequence |
| Alfred Wegener Institute | 35s |
| Australian Antarctic Division | 4 mins 49 s |
| British Antarctic Survey | 8 mins 23 s |
| NATO Science and Technology Organisation – Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation | 12 mins, 44s |
| Marine National Facility (MNF) Australia | 16 mins 52 s |
| French Polar Institute | 23 mins 4 s |
| GEOMAR Helmholt Centre for Ocean Research Kiel | 26 mins 45s |
| French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) | 31 mins 38 s |
| Institute of Oceanology China, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 36 mins 15s |
| Institute of Marine Research Norway | 43 mins 20s |
| Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) | 46 mins 30s |
| Marine Technology Unit (CSIC) | 51 mins 10s |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) | 54 mins 44 s |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) | 59 mins |
| National Oceanography Centre (NOC) | 1 hr 01 min 23 s |
| Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) | 1 hr 05 mins, 49 s |
| Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego | 1 hr 10 mins 50 s |
| Spanish Institute of oceanography | 1 hr 15 mins 24 s |
| University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLC) | 1 hr 26 mins 59 s |
| US Coastguard | 1 hr 32 mins 55 s |
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:
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!
Investigator covered in pyjama stripes!
Posted: June 11, 2014 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Future Research Vessel Project, RV Investigator, ship construction Leave a commentFrom one end of the ship to the other, up and down the stairs, along the corridors and into the laboratories, the ship is slowly being covered in pyjama stripes.
Well that’s what it looks like to me!
The blue striped material has been rolled out, in an effort to protect surfaces throughout the ship.
