Key points
- Eureka 2, Impossible Metals’ first deep-water nodule collection vehicle, has three Delta arms, four buoyancy engines and three stereo cameras, and has been tested autonomously in Georgian Bay on Lake Huron at depths of 50 to 100 meters.
- The vehicle has a 50 kilogram in-water payload capacity and uses buoyancy control rather than downward thrust to stay close to the seafloor without disturbing sediment.
- CTO Jason Gillham says the company plans to deploy Eureka 2 to collect real nodules in the ocean in the first half of this year, ahead of the Eureka 3 design now underway.
- Gillham outlines potential secondary applications for the platform, including targeted sampling, vertical water-column operations, and use as an untethered box-core sampling system.
