Teledyne Marine successfully launched the next-generation Slocum Sentinel glider, Redwing', into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, Oct. 11, approximately 43 miles southeast of Woods Hole, Mass. The launch, which is a collaboration with Rutgers University, took place aboard the Ocean Researcher, a 41-foot research vessel under clear skies and one- to three-foot seas.
The Teledyne Marine team on board included Shea Quinn, Sentinel Mission Project Lead; Cordie Goodrich, Sentinel Mission Lead Pilot; and Sal Fricano, Glider Applications Engineer and Pilot.
Redwing has embarked on the five-year Sentinel Mission, where it will become the first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to circumnavigate the globe.
Brian Maguire, COO at Teledyne Marine, explained: “We are humbled by the scale of this mission. To send a glider around the globe, every detail must be world class — the design, the hardware and software, the support, and the people executing the mission. This is our moonshot!"
Maguire added: “This mission is what Teledyne Marine is about. We are sensing at the edge, analyzing, and distributing data at the speed of decision making; doing this with highly engineered products that solve tough, real-world challenges. This is not just a technical achievement. It's a testament to what happens when bold customers, brilliant engineers, and relentless operators come together with a shared purpose: to explore, to protect, and to understand our oceans. We have fielded over 1,000 Gliders. As Sentinel begins its journey, it carries the legacy of learning from every mission our customers have run with our gliders."
Shea Quinn, Sentinel Mission Project Lead at Teledyne Marine, added: “Beyond the attempt at the first ever global circumnavigation by an AUV, this mission will demonstrate that we now have the capability to send autonomous systems to the most remote areas of the ocean," said Quinn. “We can use them for months or years at a time to gather valuable scientific data to take the next step in ocean data gathering and hopefully inspire more people to become involved in the study of our oceans and the technologies that enable it."
Monitoring the launch remotely, Rutgers oceanographer and science co-lead Scott Glenn reflected on the moment Redwing left the dock at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Friday, Oct. 10, after a celebratory launch event: “It brought me a sense of relief. That we are as prepared as we are going to be, and the best way to move technology forward now is to spend time at sea. I felt that same calmness that I have felt many times before when a glider mission begins, as our focus changes from preparation for all that can go wrong, to ocean exploration and the many new opportunities for discovery."
Redwing's journey will take it across the Gulf Stream towards Europe, then south to Gran Canaria, onward to Cape Town, across the Indian Ocean to Australia and New Zealand, through the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and eventually back to the Atlantic via the Falkland Islands, Brazil, and the Caribbean.
The mission is a collaboration between Teledyne Marine and Rutgers University. Engineers from Teledyne, alongside more than 50 students from Rutgers University - who have been instrumental in developing flight tools and navigation software - will work in unison to help track and keep Redwing on its time critical flight path. A combined mission control will be split between Teledyne and the Center of Ocean Observing Leadership (COOL) room at Rutgers, where data will be analyzed throughout the five-year mission.
The mission aims to revolutionize ocean data collection, improve weather forecasting and our understanding of the causes of extreme weather events, and inspire the next generation of ocean scientists and engineers.
